Luis Suarez has told two British newspapers that he wants to leave Liverpool Football Club.
The player says he has the backing of the PFA, and that he will consider taking the matter to a Premier League tribunal if he isn't allowed to leave. We reported the murmurings on this story last week.
Luis Suarez: I want to leave LFC
The transfer window closes on the 2nd September.
Suarez was not in the squad that travelled to Norway to face Valerenga later today - the club citing a 'foot injury'.
However the player has used his time to expose his side of the story to the British media including The Guardian.
He said:
"Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I'd be allowed to go.
"I gave absolutely everything last season but it was not enough to give us a top-four finish – now all I want is for Liverpool to honour our agreement."
Suarez insisted the agreement was legally binding - continuing:
"I have the club's word and we have the written contract and we are happy to take this to the Premier League for them to decide the case but I do not want it to come to that," he said.
"I don't feel betrayed [by Liverpool] but the club promised me something a year ago just as I promised them that I would stay and try everything possible to get us into the Champions League.
"They gave me their word a year ago and now I want them to honour that. And it is not just something verbal with the coach but something that is written in the contract. I'm not going to another club to hurt Liverpool."
Suarez turned his attention to the Liverpool supporters:
"They defended me, just like I defended them on the pitch. The players have always supported me and I'm grateful for that. It's the same with the supporters. I got a great reception at the weekend and I am grateful. I don't think the supporters are angry – I think they understand a player when he has the ambition to triumph at the highest level.
"When you are at a club for as long as you are together you stick up for each other but that does not give the club the right to go back on their commitment."
He insisted that his desire was to play in the Champions League:
"I'm 26. I need to be playing in the Champions League. I waited one year and no one can say that I did not give everything possible with my team-mates last season to get us there."
"It is not as if I am asking to move to a local rival. And I would not consider moving to a club outside the Champions League. I have made my desire to move known in private various times and now it feels like the time for me to make it public.
"I have to put my career first. People say Liverpool deserve more from me but I have scored 50 goals in less than 100 games and now they could double the money they paid for me.
"Liverpool will always be special for me: my daughter was born here. [Last summer] was the moment to show my loyalty to Liverpool and I did. They gave me my chance in England and stood up for me throughout my ban. I know I have made mistakes in my time here but I have apologised lots of times. This is not about that. This is about the club having agreed to something both verbally and in the contract which they are now not honouring.
"People may accuse me of showing a lack of loyalty but last season we told Liverpool there was interest from a top European club but they told me: 'We've got a new coach and we're going to push for the Champions League.'
"I spoke with Brendan Rodgers several times and he told me: 'Stay another season, and you have my word if we don't make it then I will personally make sure that you can leave.'"
"Liverpool is a club with a reputation for doing things the right way. I just want them to abide by the promises made last season. Some of [my team-mates] say to me: 'We cannot understand that if you have it signed that you can't leave.'
Liverpool's key problem is with him moving to Arsenal - and this may strike many fans as strange given his criticism of the English media.
Suarez had an answer for this too:
"I was asked a question: 'Would I want to play for Madrid?' It's like anyone asked if they want to change jobs and move to a bigger company. Everyone aspires to the highest levels and all I did was give an honest answer: 'Yes, I would.' On the same day I gave that interview Pepe Reina said the same thing about Barcelona and nobody mentioned it. But if I do it then it means I am disrespecting Liverpool. It has always been the same: one rule for me and another for everyone else.
"I had just arrived in Uruguay where the press are very good to me because I am one of theirs. They asked me about the press in England. What am I supposed to say? Of course I don't like the fact that my wife goes to the supermarket and there are photographers. But I realise that the press attention is the same wherever you go."
But Arsenal?
"My priority is Champions League football. This is about me doing what is right for my career at this moment in time.
"Right now the Premier League is the biggest and most important league. My record shows that I'm not the kind of player who wants to change clubs every season and I would have no problem playing in England for many more years. If we are just talking about the level of the football and the way the supporters are then it is an incredible league. Any player in the world at the moment would like to play here."
But it is a different league, the Champions League, that hangs heaviest: this is a theme to which he returns often. "I feel I have done enough to be playing in the Champions League at this stage of my career," he says. "Now there is an option for me to do that and I want very much to take it. I went a long time at Ajax without playing many games in the Champions League. I am ambitious, I want to be there."
Liverpool have not commented on Luis Suarez' latest outburst - but Brendan Rodgers was asked about the player in his press conference ahead of the Valerenga game:
"We have no intention of selling one of the best players in the world to one of our rivals. Luis is very much a Liverpool player and there is no real value in discussing it unless someone comes close to the valuation.
"Luis is a wonderful player, but this is a bigger project than just him."
So - what next for Liverpool FC and Luis Suarez?
suarez will always be a good player no matter what club he goes to.
He gave his all including biting, diving, and getting a ban for racist speech.. Liverpool will be well rid of him.
Suarez talking again to the MEDIA ! Is this the same media that has been harrasing him for the last 18 months ! F.k.n. hypocrite him, I think that all us reds no that the little rat is going, but he will be a distant memory soon , not like great players of the past and present, but I am sure that the owners will not give him what he wants! Move to arsenal. YNWA 5*****
Let him go but fine him for all the games he missed for his banned games , with that should be able to buy a player for £50 grand !!
Bored. Get lost.
If he thinks Arsenal has a chance of winning the CL then he is as thick as he looks.
just let him go but not to any bpl team,if he can stay on the pitch
keith carlisle
Liverpool should sell Suarez to Real or any other club outside BPL.That is pretty simple..LFC should be ready to sell Suarez to Real for 35 M
what he has done for our club is awesome but sorry if he wants bring this great clubs name down then sorry let the f*****r go he has missed nearly 18 games all total in 1/5 seasons brendon let him go and built a new team with out him dont get me wrong he is and always will be a great player but please dont sell him to a epl team YNWA J96
Luis’s saga is damaging LFC reputation & distracting the team to focus on strengthening the club. Offload him for good money & lets continue rebuilding project.
So Legal action against the club is simpler than submitting a transfer request? .Something odd here. Watch out arsenal , this mad sod will viciously turn on any club that can’t secure him European Champions League football. Has made Torres look like a puppy ! My suspicion is that he IS really angling for a move to Real Madrid and is using Arsenal as a bargaining ploy. Sadly I think the EPL will be better without a personality like this. As LFC fans we have marvelled at his skills but never quite knew what he was going to do next and has done so much to sour the name of our club. I do not wish him well and as the say in the theatre ” fo break a leg!”
Luis had no intention to stay so let him go no one is bigger than lfc
Sell the ungrateful liability, let him be Arsenal’s problem, Liverpool can sign 2-3 top up and coming young committed players as a replacement for this glory hunting mercenary, win win situation for Liverpool.
How 2 solve all our issues offer him in part exchange 2 real Madrid 4 Di Maria and contrao no cash jus 2 make sure deal gets done n we have a lb and GIS replacement job done
So him being on sidelines suspended for two different actions helped Liverpool . When the total English population turned on him for his stupid actions Liverpool stood buy him . Class suarez
When real Madrid went back on there word and they wont bale more then him that’s our fault.
He gave it all on the pitch. We all loose control at some point. He lied to save your feelings but it backfired when Madrid let him down. He is no saint, indeed he is as mercenary as many of the foreign players in the league. Liverpool have been lucky with the absolute commitment of the likes of Gerrard and Carragher. Don’t make the same mistake as arsenal fans when Nasri left and turn it into a negative cloud for the club. Forget him, move on, keep BR in his Job. These should be your priorities.
Respect 4 Liverpool Fans. We need to look after ourselves and stop the nasties trying to sack Wenger.
Saurez says he did everything he could to help us to a top four finish. I guess that includes getting himself banned for his own stupidity. One could argue that that negates his claim of doing everything he could.