Arsenal, Liverpool, Suarez and the extra one pound that makes no difference

24 July 2013 09:19

Reports have broken that Arsenal have upped the ante on Luis Suarez by offering money in excess of the clause in his contract. This is all well and good, but this isn’t a release clause. It’s not a buy-out clause similar to those that are de rigeur, in Spain. If Arsenal thought that by raising their offer to £40million plus £1 they would break the dam - and Liverpool would be compelled to deal, then they may be in for a disappointment.

As I understand it – and it has been pretty well leaked, so it would seem strange if the Gunners weren’t aware – the clause in the contract requires Liverpool to ‘make the player aware’ of any offer for him above the £40million mark, but there is compelling requirement for them to accept. Now, call me naïve, but is this a fairly redundant codicil? Given that the newspapers report daily bids for players, and especially the high profile ones such as Suarez, is there any possibility that the player wasn’t aware of the bid? Picturing a scene where in Brendan Rodgers, calls Suarez into his office and advises that he probably needs to sit down as he’s about to reveal some amazing news, before detailing the offer is surely of ridiculous proportions. It would require a hefty chunk of naivety to assume that Suarez’s people wouldn’t have been fully aware of what was happening. The nitty gritty of all this of course is that Liverpool will ‘do the necessary’ and officially inform the player, probably just after rejecting Arsenal’s offer.

It appears that although the club may privately be resigned to letting Suarez go, they are resolved to extract the price that they require – rumoured to be £50million. No-one should infer from this piece that I’m painting Arsenal as some kind of club with no idea of what they’re doing. Clearly, the transfer window is a game that club’s are fully in tune with, and Arsenal are no exception – Arsene Wenger is nobody’s mug.Every newspaper report, every bid, increases the pressure for Suarez to leave. Whilst from the inside, it appears to be clear that the player himself has made no secret of his desire to leave Liverpool, and will be doing all he can, within the rules of propriety, from his end to make that happen.

Some time before the window shuts, the odds are that Suarez will jump through it and escape from Anfield, but whether that will be to Arsenal is a point for conjecture. From what I hear, the Uruguayan still favours Real Madrid, but the transfer operations of that club are often shrouded from all eyes – except perhaps Marca. If Arsenal want to capture the player, they may need to bite the bullet and make the bid that Liverpool will accept. Unfortunately, they’ll need add a few more one pound coins onto that £40million to make that happen.

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Source: DSG