Luis Suarez – What's next for him?

Will Luis Suarez leave Liverpool?

There have been conflicting reports of Suarez stating and denying his statements that he wishes to stay on at Liverpool next season.

While Uruguayan newspaper El Observador has quoted the player, as saying: “For now, because of all the affection of the people, I will be staying”, Kyodo News ran a report of him quoting “I didn’t say that, maybe someone else did and the main thing is that I am here now with the national team.”

Which one of the two is actually true will be known in the days to come. The Suarez transfer saga has gone on for too long, and Liverpool will be keen to resolve the situation quickly.

Suarez had publicly attacked the club last week, when he accused manager Brendan Rodgers of breaking a promise that he would be allowed to leave Liverpool in the summer if the club failed to qualify for Champions League. However, Rodgers has flatly denied that, saying that there was no such agreement in place. Rodgers received public backing from club owner John W. Henry, who insisted that there was no chance of Suarez being sold in the current transfer window.

Suarez earned the wrath of Liverpool fans after the comments he made against the club to the media, and also for his attempts to engineer a move to Real Madrid by issuing a come-and-get-me plea, and to Arsenal by trying to exploit a possible escape clause in his contract, which was later denied by Liverpool as well as PFA.

Banished to train alone due to his poor attitude in the pre-season, Suarez has been offered a way back into the first-team group by Rodgers, who said that he will assess the situation once Suarez returns back to club from international duty.

Even if his comments on wanting to stay on at Liverpool are true, there’s no denying that the player still feels the need to move to a club playing Champions League football, but the options are now quickly running out for him. The last two months have seen plenty of wavering statements from Suarez, who will soon have to realize, if not already, that he needs to be practical about where he will plying his trade in the 2013-14 season.

Liverpool owners have put their credibility at stake by going on record to clearly state that they won’t be selling Suarez to Arsenal, the only club to have made an official bid for him and a club, which they feel are a direct competitor for Liverpool for a top-four spot in the Premier League, which Liverpool are targeting in the upcoming season.

Experts believe that if a club like Real Madrid or Bayern Munich comes in for Suarez with a bid matching Liverpool’s valuation, they will sell the player. However, with Madrid focussing on purchasing Gareth Bale in the transfer window, and Bayern now under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola who won’t feel the need to purchase an extra striker, neither club is likely to make a serious bid for Suarez.