So far they have made their moves via the press, but on Wednesday in London Barcelona are set to officially begin their bid to buy Luis Suarez when a club delegation meets Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre in London on Wednesday.
As usual, Barcelona have used the Spanish media to begin their tapping up process. Afyer Suarez’s PR driven apology for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup, Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta called the Uruguay and Liverpool forward “humble”.
“Suarez has shown he is humble enough to admit an error, which is very important,” he told reporters.
“He has been humble enough to apologise to those he has affected, because it happened in the middle of a festival of football. In this case it’s the best thing a person can do.”
The former Barcelona and Spain goalkeeper also spoke about Suarez’s footballing qualities.
“Everyone knows that Luis is an excellent player, everyone knows last season he played in various positions in attack, but everyone also knows that he is a Liverpool player,” he said.
Yes he is still a Liverpool player but it is looking more and more likely that Suarez will leave Anfield this summer, although the Reds are adamant that they will only sell if a contract release clause, reported to be between £70 million and £80 million is met. But unlike last season when Liverpool were quick to publicly state that Suarez was going nowhere, the club and Fenway Sports Group have been conspicuously quiet this time around about Suarez’s future.
I am sure on the meeting agenda will be the status of Barcelona’s Chile international forward Alexis Sanchez who Liverpool are very interested in signing. Sanchez is valued at around £30 million, and I wonder if Liverpool would accept Sanchez plus between £40 million and £50 million for Suarez? I know I would.
