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Suarez Speaks! Striker Wants Arsenal Move & Will Submit Transfer Request

By on August 7, 2013

It’s a day many have been waiting for and it’s finally arrived; Luis Suarez has spoken out about his desire to leave Liverpool and confirmed he wants to join Arsenal this summer.

After weeks of posturing and Liverpool insisting the striker wasn’t for sale, Suarez had to prove he really wanted out and boy has he done just that in a sensational interview in the Guardian.

The Uruguayan confirmed he has a verbal and written agreement with Liverpool that he’d be allowed to leave for a Champions League club this summer if they failed to finish in the top-four last season.

The 26-year-old told the Guardian that he’s prepared to submit a transfer request [no quotes supplied by the paper] by the end of this week if he’s not allowed to join Arsenal and is prepared to take his case to the Premier League with the full backing of the PFA.

“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,” he revealed. “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.”

“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.”

“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.

“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.'”

So there we have it from the players mouth. He’s confident there is both a verbal and written agreement. If true, I’m not sure what Liverpool are playing at. Even if it turns out there is no official agreement in his contract, surely this interview has made Suarez’s stay at Liverpool impossible? Would fans even want him to stay now?!

Of course we’ve been here before, just 12 months ago a certain Dutchman pulled a very similar trick and it eventually led to his ‘dream’ move to Man Utd. I see no way Liverpool can keep him now after this, and I’m guessing the club have forced Suarez into making a public statement in order to save face. They make it clear they want him to stay and he’s not for sale, the striker kicks up a fuss forcing the club to sell him. The player is the cast as the villain and the club save are seen as they did all they could to keep him. It’s how big transfer are done these days.

Many feel Suarez may be using Arsenal to get a move to Real Madrid, but he claims he wants to play in the Premier League for ‘many more years’ and now that Arsenal are giving him the chance to play in the Champions League, he ‘very much’ wants to take it:

“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.”

“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.”

So Suarez has taken the HUGE step of taking his desire to leave public. There is no going back from this now. The ball is now firmly in Liverpool’s court. They can’t simply hide their head in the sand and pretend this all isn’t happening and maintain that Suarez isn’t for sale. They have a player who wants out and a club who’re prepared to pay £40m for him. Then there is the fact they agreed to let him leave this summer and apparently it’s written into his contract.

While this is all excellent news for Arsenal, my worry now is that Liverpool are going to admit defeat and agree to sell, but will tout him all over Europe trying to find another buyer. While the likes of PSG, Bayern, Juventus and Barcelona don’t need another striker, there is of course the very-real threat of Real Madrid.

The good news is they are concentrating their efforts, and their finances, on trying to sign Gareth Bale and if they end up signing him it’s going to cost them the best part of £100m. I very-much doubt the Spaniards have another £40m to spend, particularly given the fact they’ve already spent well over £60m this summer.

So all the signs are that we’re in the box seat, let’s see how things progress over the next few days. Hopefully a formal transfer request goes in on Friday.

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What do you make of the Suarez interview? Do you think he’ll end up joining Arsenal?