With the striker making no attempt to hide his desire to leave the club, and Arsenal set to make a £40 million offer, the Anfield boss maintains the player cannot force an exit

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted that Luis Suarez will not be able to orchestrate a transfer away from the club this summer.

The 26-year-old has made no secret of his intention to leave Anfield – publicly voicing admiration for Real Madrid and talking up his delight at being linked with Arsenal, while the north London outfit are preparing a £40 million offer.

But Rodgers says Liverpool will have the final say on a possible departure for Suarez, as he is keen for no player to disrespect the club.

“This is something we will control,” Rodgers told reporters. “This situation will not be controlled by the player. I am very strong on the values of the club, where we are and how we operate.

“Football and society is different nowadays, the [transfer] market is totally different and players can create different ways to open it up.

“But I have always said that there is no player bigger than Liverpool and that is something we are very strong on.

“Do I expect him to stay? Very much so. A lot has been said in the off season, but the reality is that he is very much a player of importance. Every player has a value and a worth, but it doesn’t mean we are going to sell him.”

Suarez joined up with the rest of the squad in Australia on Sunday after being afforded an extended break following the Confederations Cup.

Rodgers, who previously revealed that the striker will take part in Wednesday’s pre-season clash with Melbourne Victory, plans on discussing future plans with the former Ajax man during the tour.

“I will do what I have done with the rest of the players and sit down with him,” Rodgers said. “The reality is that we do have one or two things to clear up, but that will be done and we will continue to work.

“Luis and I have been in regular contact, but by the time we got here on Sunday night and had a bite to eat, it was late. We have that sort of relationship, though, where communication is open. I always tell him what I feel.

“Luis is here as expected, he is an integral part of squad and we will chat at some stage. The bottom line is he’s a Liverpool player. We have only had one bid for him and it was nowhere near the value we have of him and there has been nothing since.”

The Anfield boss was left short of options when he lost Jose Enrique to a hamstring injury in January and is keen to provide cover for the Spaniard before the transfer window shuts

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed he is keen to add a left-back to his squad before the start of the new campaign.

Rodgers lost first-choice option Jose Enrique to a hamstring injury in January and had to use Glen Johnson and Andre Wisdom in the position instead.

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And the former Swansea boss feels it is important to bolster his squad and provide cover for the Spaniard before the transfer window shuts.

“There are obviously certain areas of the squad where we’re a bit thinner than others,” Rodgers said.

“We probably need a bit more support – that extra bit of quality – at the top end of the field and that’s something we’ll look out for.

“That’ll be mixed with needing cover in the left-back position – that’s something we’re looking at. It’s not really about numbers, it’s about quality.

“If we can do that over the next number of weeks we’ll be happy.”

The Reds recently made an approach for Chelsea and England left-back Ryan Bertrand, who is Ashley Cole’s understudy at Stamford Bridge.

However, the club dropped their interest upon finding out the 23-year-old would demand a salary package worth more than £60,000-a-week, as exclusively revealed by Goal.

Nevertheless, Bertrand later insisted he would not consider leaving the Blues as he wants to bide his time and become the club’s No.1 left-back.

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The wantaway striker is set to make his first-team return against Melbourne Victory, but his manager says the Arsenal target could leave if the Reds receive a suitable offer

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has conceded that Luis Suarez could leave the club if a suitable offer is received.

The striker touched down in Melbourne on Sunday ahead of his first involvement in the Reds’ pre-season tour after being afforded additional time off following June’s Confederations Cup.

Suarez made his desire to leave Liverpool public last month – with Arsenal set to test Liverpool’s resolve with a £40 million offer after seeing an initial £35m bid rejected – and Rodgers has admitted he cannot rule out an Anfield exit for the Uruguayan.

“The reality is that he’s a player who is very much valued at Liverpool and unless there’s any sort of offer that comes in that is anywhere near his value, there’s nothing to consider, and we haven’t had that,” Rodgers told the club’s official website.

“As we’ve always been as a club, I’m quite relaxed about it.

“We’ll chat to him at some stage, like we do with all the players, but he’s back, he’s in great spirits and he’s obviously an integral part of the group.

“You could see his closeness with his team-mates last night when they were all seeing him for the first time in a number of weeks.

“He’ll join training today [Sunday] with all the other players and over the course of these next few weeks we’ll communicate.”

Rodgers said both Suarez and captain Steven Gerrard were expected to feature against A-League side Victory in front of a sell-out crowd at the MCG on Wednesday.

“The players aren’t quite up to 90 minutes yet,” Rodgers said. “For the game in Indonesia we played a team for around 60 minutes and then we looked to make changes.

“The players are only three weeks into their preparations but they’ll all be involved; they’ll all have some part to play.”

More than 95,000 fans are expected to fill the MCG in what is set to be the biggest crowd the English giants have ever played in front of.

“We’re very honoured to be playing at such an iconic sporting venue,” he added.

“It’s a great honour to play there and to be sold out is remarkable really but it doesn’t surprise me because the support for this football club really is worldwide.”