The Uruguay international is adamant that the Reds promised to sell him if they failed to reach the Champions League and has called on Brendan Rodgers’ side to keep their word
Luis Suarez has insisted Liverpool promised him they would allow him to leave the club if they failed to reach the Champions League – read the full transcript from the explosive interview he gave to the English media below…
Suarez on Liverpool’s promise…
“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 told The Guardian. “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 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.
“They defended me, just like I defended them on the pitch. The players have always supported me and I’m grateful for that. It’s the same with the supporters. I got a great reception at the weekend and I am grateful. I don’t think the supporters are angry – I think they understand a player when he has the ambition to triumph at the highest level.
“When you are at a club for as long as you are together you stick up for each other but that does not give the club the right to go back on their commitment.”
‘I need to be playing in the Champions League!’
“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 50goals in less than 100 games and now they could double the money they paid for me.
“Liverpool will always be special for me: my daughter was born here. [Last summer] was the moment to show my loyalty to Liverpool and I did. [Liverpool] gave me my chance in England and stood up for me throughout my ban. I know I have made mistakes in my time here but I have apologised lots of times. This is not about that. This is about the club having agreed to something both verbally and in the contract which they are now not honouring.
“People may accuse me of showing a lack of loyalty but last season we told Liverpool there was interest from a top European club but they told me: ‘We’ve got a new coach and we’re going to push for the Champions League.’
“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.’
“Liverpool is a club with a reputation for doing things the right way. I just want them to abide by the promises made last season. Some of [my team-mates] say to me: ‘We cannot understand that if you have it signed that you can’t leave.'”
‘One rule for Suarez, another for everyone else…’
“I was asked a question: ‘Would I want to play for Madrid?’ It’s like anyone asked if they want to change jobs and move to a bigger company. Everyone aspires to the highest levels and all I did was give an honest answer: ‘Yes, I would.’ On the same day I gave that interview Pepe Reina said the same thing about Barcelona and nobody mentioned it. But if I do it then it means I am disrespecting Liverpool. It has always been the same: one rule for me and another for everyone else.
“I had just arrived in Uruguay where the press are very good to me because I am one of theirs,” he continues. “They asked me about the press in England. What am I supposed to say? Of course I don’t like the fact that my wife goes to the supermarket and there are photographers. But I realise that the press attention is the same wherever you go.
“My priority is Champions League football. This is about me doing what is right for my career at this moment in time.”
Are Arsenal an option?
“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. 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.”