Transfer Balls: Luis Suarez Leaves Children Behind In Liverpool To Play For Barcelona
TRANSFER Balls catches up with Liverpool’s Luis Suarez. By now you’ll be wondering what he’s been up to this summer.
Well, he’s been linking up well with his club captain Stephen Gerrard in Brazil, latching onto a Stevie G. through ball to smash one past Manchester City’s Russ Abbot play-alike Joe Hart. Now read on…
Daily Telegraph, March 4, 2014:
Liverpool striker Luis Suárez vows to stay at Anfield no matter whether club qualifies for Champions League
Liverpool did qualify. So. Luis stays!
Speaking to Uruguayan TV channel Canal 10, the new PFA Player of the Year said: “Don’t worry, nothing is going to happen to me. I’m very happy here and my family is happy here.”
Liverpool FC boss Brendan Rodgers is confident there will be no repeat of last summer’s Luis Suarez transfer saga as he insisted: “I know he’s very happy here.”
Daily Telegraph, May 16:
Luis Suarez: Liverpool are one of the best clubs in the world – I love it here. Premier League’s leading scorer says he has no thoughts of leaving Anfield for Real Madrid or Barcelona despite persistent rumours of a move away
LUIS SUAREZ has committed himself to a renewed title challenge with Liverpool by enrolling his four-year-old daughter in a Merseyside school.
LUIS STAYS!
FACT!
But on May 21,the Star had unnamed sources:
The La Liga giants are willing to bid £100m to try and lure Suarez away from Liverpool, according to sources in Spain.
Sources said:
The Uruguay international has been persistently linked with a move to the Champions League winners and the 27-year-old’s representative admits such a move would be difficult for the striker to reject.
“A year ago he was very likely to leave Liverpool,” Alejandro Balbi told Cadena SER. Now I think it is very difficult because he is an idol, although clubs can offer a lot of money. If there is such a big offer from Real Madrid, it would be very difficult to say no. Luis Suarez has always had a predisposition for Spain.”
On May 29, the Star said the Real move was off:
No Real deal! Madrid admit they WON’T sign Liverpool star Luis Suarez – REAL MADRID boss Carlo Ancelotti has privately accepted he won’t be able to sign Luis Suarez.
The Star is privy to the Real manager’s private thoughts. Wow!
On June 3, the Bleacher Report had a no news special:
Manchester United Transfer News: Luis Suarez Won’t Swap Liverpool for Red Devils
The Star had another view:
Manchester United are set to launch an outrageous bid for Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, according to reports in Spain. Journalist Alejandro Alcazar claims new United boss Louis Van Gaal is eager to pair Suarez with countryman Robin Van Persie.
The Metro says this “could” happen because United have “plenty of cash”. And, er, that’s it.
On June 3, the Express managed to conjure up a number:
Manchester United lining up £65m bid to beat Real Madrid to Luis Suarez
By June 21, Luis was heading only to Spain, as the Belfast Telegraph reported:
Luis Suarez ‘in love with Barcelona’: Spanish club chasing Liverpool striker for £68m=
Fast forward to June 23 and the Times has news:
LUIS SUAREZ will shock Liverpool in the summer by insisting he wants to leave Anfield for a new career in Spain. Real Madrid and Barcelona have approached England’s Footballer of the Year and are ready to meet a release clause understood to be £67.9m.
Oh, the old Suarez release clause. Last Transfer Season Arsenal triggered that with a bid exceeding his £40m release clause by £1. But the Reds wouldn’t let him go. As the club’s owner J W Henry said after refusing the Arsenal bid:
“And he had a buy-out clause. I don’t know what degree I should go into this – but he had a buy-out clause of £40million – more than 60 million dollars. So Arsenal, one of our prime rivals this year…they offered £40million and one pound for him and triggered his buy-out clause. But what we’ve found over the years is that contracts don’t seem to mean a lot in England – actually not in England, in world football. It doesn’t matter how long a player’s contract is, he can decide he’s leaving. It’s been great for Luis, it’s been great for us. We have three gentlemen up front Suárez, Sterling, and Sturridge, [they] are young, I think those three could be together for a long time.”
So. About that clause..? The Times goes on:
Sources close to Suarez say he was upset when the Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, said the team had not missed him when he was banned for the first five games of the 2013-14 Premier League season. Suarez is said to believe that he proved his importance with a 31-goal campaign.
And:
Liverpool’s American owners chose to renege on a contractual promise that Suarez would be allowed to leave the club in the summer of 2013 if the team had failed to qualify for the Champions League, a betrayal of trust the striker has not forgiven.
So. Suarez dislikes and does not trust the owners and the manager.
Barcelona are thought to hold an advantage over Madrid in the pursuit of Suarez because the family of his wife, Sofia, live in the city…
But that’s not the same part of his family who, as the Express announced, are enrolled in a Merseyside school.
More Transfer Balls tomorrow. It’s going to be a long summer of Luis…
Posted: 23rd, June 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
