Luis Suárez is trying to move to Arsenal after the London club offered one pound over £40m for the Liverpool striker.
• Striker had intended to lodge transfer
request this week
• Uruguayan will not apologise over
alleged 'disrespect'
Luis Suárez will not tender transfer request yet in the wake of Liverpool's hard-line stance over his future. The Uruguayan striker had originally planned to do so before the end of this week if the Anfield club did not allow him to move to Arsenal. But Suárez's camp believe his position was made sufficiently clear in an interview with the Guardian and that there is no need to make a formal transfer request at the moment.
Liverpool's owner, John W Henry, angrily said after the interview that Suárez would not be leaving Liverpool to join any club, at any fee, despite the striker insisting he wanted to depart in order to play Champions League football.
Brendan Rodgers, themanager, accused Suárez of disrespecting the club and lying. Rodgers has forced Suárez to train with the youth team until he makes
an apology, although how much impact that has is open to question as Suárez is injured, about to depart on international duty and has six games of his ban to serve.
Rodgers appeared to hold out an olive branch on Friday when he said: "It's been a difficult period for him but it's my job to protect the group.
Once he's back with the spirit he'll rejoin the group.
"We're quite calm. The club is in control of the situation. We've got no inclination to sell and we've been strong on that. Luis has fought for his life for Liverpool. There will come a point where he'll recognise the club is not going to sell and then he goes on to the pitch and he'll give 100%."
Suárez has no intention of apologising. He made it clear in the interview that he believes that the club and manager have broken a promise; the coach's latest remarks can only have added to that sensation. In his opinion it is Rodgers who has lied and reneged
on a deal.
If the club's American owner sticks to his word, he risks missing out on a substantial transfer fee and having an unhappy player in the squad. But if Suárez is ultimately forced to stay, he will not refuse to play. Right now, he believes that there is little more than he can, or should, do: he has made his position clear and Henry's public insistence that he will not sell makes a formal request pointless.
Any potential transfer now depends on the clubs, not the player. Suárez's decision to speak out was motivated less by strategy than by frustration.Suárez's camp believe that a clause in his contract allows him to depart for any bid over £40m and Arsenal acted to trigger that clause by offering £40,000,000.
That is the only offer Liverpool have received and no other major club has expressed a serious interest in the striker. Liverpool dispute that the clause allows Suárez to leave for that fee and contend it merely opens negotiations.
The Professional Footballers' Association president, Gordon Taylor, admitted the clause in Suárez's contract is not watertight and that a "good faith" clause was also not legally binding. The very existence of a clause indicates that Liverpool and Suárez had discussed a possible departure in the event of the club not making it into the Champions League. The dispute is over the size of the transfer fee.
Suárez made his position clear to Liverpool; he has now made his position clear publicly too.
The 26-year-old was not included in
the Liverpool squad that flew to Dublin on Friday for the club's final pre-season friendly against Celtic. He missed the win over Valerenga in Oslo in midweek with a slight foot injury suffered during Steven Gerrard's testimonial but was unlikely to appear in Dublin anyway as Rodgers prepares for next weekend's Premier League opener against Stoke City.
Arsène Wenger on Fridaysaid Arsenal would act in a "respectful" manner in their pursuit of Suárez. "There is nothing to add to what I said already about the transfer of Suárez," he said. "If it will be done, it will be done in a respectful and amicable way with Liverpool. To make a transfer happen, you need the agreement of three parties – the buyer, the seller and the player.
Liverpool at the moment do not agree. If they change their minds or not, I don't know. We'll respect that."Raheem Sterling will be involved against Celtic, despite appearing at Liverpool magistrates' court on Friday charged with assaulting his girlfriend. The 18-year-old winger was arrested on Thursday and held in custody overnight before being charged with common assault on his 20-year-old partner, Shana Halliday. The England international entered a not guilty plea when the charges were put to him. He now faces a trial in September.A spokesman for Merseyside police said: "Merseyside police can confirm an 18-year-old man was arrested and subsequently charged with assault following an incident last night in Page Moss. Raheem Sterling, 18, of Woolton, was charged with Section 39 Common Assault."
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