Suarez saga set to rumble on

07 August 2013 20:01

Liverpool's steadfast determination not to sell Luis Suarez - certainly not to one of their main rivals - means the striker's long-running transfer saga seems destined to run for a while yet.

The Uruguay international may have burned his bridges with many at Anfield by threatening to hand in a transfer request this week and take the club to a Premier League tribunal to make good his escape.

But the club will not allow their hand to be forced and maintain he is not for sale and the clause in his contract which Arsenal thought they had activated with a £40,000,001 bid - their second offer - is not an automatic selling one.

With both sides intransigent about their own interpretation of the player's contract, it seems Suarez's future may end up being determined by neither party if lawyers are brought in to fight it out.

Suarez has enlisted the help of the Professional Footballers' Association to seek a way out but chief executive Gordon Taylor admits there may not be a straightforward answer.

"It is a delicate situation and we are trying to help," he said.

"These buy-out clauses have caused no end of problems in the past and they continue to do so because of the way they were drafted at the time.

"He believes the £40million amount that is mentioned, if that is offered that gives him the right to go.

"Liverpool, from their side, are saying that is a minimum figure from which they will consider negotiation and of course they will want to keep the player, unless they replace the player with someone as good or better, which is not going to be easy in a short period of time."

Taylor added on talkSPORT: "There are different ways it can be interpreted.

Source: PA