While newspaper reports in the UK suggest that Arsene Wenger will increase Arsenal’s offer for Liverpool striker Luis Suarez to £40 million, Reds boss Brendan Rodgers says that is not close to what Suarez is worth. And Rodgers feels that number is close to £55 million.
“When you consider Edinson Cavani has gone for £55 million [to Paris Saint-Germain], Luis is up there in that bracket of top talent. Arsenal’s was an offer we didn’t deem worthy of the talent,” he said.
“There’s no guarantee Luis would be sold even for that because we are trying to build something – we don’t have to sell. We’re prepared to spend and get people in without having to sell him.
“The reality is we have had one offer. So there can be as much speculation as you like, there’s been nothing beyond that.”
I can see Rodgers point that Falcao and Cavani both went for silly money this summer to Monaco and PSG respectively. But did those transfer fees reflect the real value of the players, or was it too clubs afloat in cash, who did not care what the price was and they wanted the players?
Rodgers, speaking from Indonesia during Liverpool’s tour of Australia and the Far East, added:
“Liverpool are one of the giants of the world. There is massive competition and we don’t want to be selling players – we want to keep our best ones here.”
There is a lot of confusion about a reported £40 million clause in Suarez’s contract, and there is a reported disagreement between the club and the player’s agent, Pere Guardiola, as to whether a bid for £40m means that Liverpool have to sell Suarez, or whether it allows him to formerly negotiate with another club.
l=Liverpool feel it is the latter and that they will not be forced to sell Suarez at that price. It will be interesting to see and hear Liverpool and Guardiola’s reaction if Arsenal offer £40m for the player.
