Luis Suarez agreed to join Barcelona in November reveals Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez
Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez has revealed that Liverpool had agreed to sell Luis Suarez to Barcelona in November itself. This revelation comes as a shock to Liverpool supporters who were loyal to Suarez in spite of his on-field antics.
Oscar Tabarez, who saw his team exit the 2014 World Cup in the Last-16 stage against Colombia, was talking to a radio station Sport 890 in Montevideo when he disclosed this news.
"Luis had told me about the Barcelona interest in November last year a few days before the Jordan match (20th November 2013).
"At that time the talks between Liverpool and Barcelona were very good and an agreement was arranged back then.
"After the amazing season he had Liverpool did not want to sell him understandably and they began to back out of the deal they made with Barcelona in November last year.
"Luis got word of this a day after the victory against England. He was a changed man, he got upset and his head was elsewhere.
"He could barely train with the rest of the team. I had to have him train with a different group from the main squad."
The much-maligned forward is on the verge of a transfer to the Nou Camp this summer with a fee reported to be more than £70 million. The news that a transfer was agreed midway through the Premier League campaign which Liverpool came tantalizingly close to winning will surely anger the Kop faithful.
Suarez scored 31 goals in 33 games and won the PFA Player of the Season award last season and had signed a new contract in December extending his stay at Anfield by 4-years and wage increased to £200,000.
But all that seems like an eye wash now to the Liverpool fans and was just a tool to insert a mega buy-out clause for the Uruguayan move to Barcelona in the summer.
It has to be remembered Suarez had put in a transfer request to leave the club last summer, but owner John Henry rejected any transfer business regarding their mercurial striker. It appears the Liverpool management did not wait for too long and decided to cash in on Suarez just three months later much to the dismay of the fans.