Liverpool won't accept less than £50M for striker Luis Suarez.
Suarez, who has been making plenty of noise in his native Uruguay this past week, will only be sold for a Liverpool record transfer fee - the £50M received for Fernando Torres in January 2011.
Suarez even went as far as saying maybe now was a time for a 'change of environment' which eventually forced Liverpool's hand into releasing a statement yesterday.
Luis Suarez is not for sale. LFC is fully supportive of Luis and expect him to honour his contract.
Neither Luis nor his representatives have communicated to the club a desire to leave.
The player arrived for £23M 2 and a half years ago, and quickly filled the gap left by the departing Torres - going on to score 30 goals in all competitions this past season.
However, the negative headlines have been a feature of his time at Liverpool. Kenny Dalglish took a substantial amount of the flak for his support of Luis, and some say it was a principal reason behind the managers departure at the end of last season.
There are suggestions there is a £40M release clause in Luis' contract - but this is only to allow the player to talk to other clubs. Liverpool do not want to sell the player but behind the scenes are clear that his price is greater than £50M.
Whether Madrid, or even Bayern Munich would be tempted at that price for a player with a chequered history is going to be the debate of the summer.