An incredible set of quotes have been released by Liverpool owner John W Henry this weekend regarding the story of how Arsenal tried to trigger Luis Suarezâs buyout clause for £40m and one pound. Liverpoolâs owner made the comments at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference on Saturday. Talking about Arsenalâs bid for Luis Suarez in the summer of 2013, John Henry has now admitted that Arsenal DID meet the Uruguayanâs buyout clause however Liverpool refused to let the player go regardless. Rather than live up to the terms of the agreement in Suarezâs contract, the American owner decided heâd rather play hardball and force the Gunners to take Liverpool to court in the Suarez transfer saga. John W Henry made the following eye-popping remarks: Luis Suarez is the top scorer in the English Premier League, which is arguably the top soccer league in the world. He had a buyout clause of £40m. Arsenal, one of our prime rivals â this year weâre tied for 2nd ⦠weâre actually 2nd because of goal difference. They offered £40m+£1. What weâve found ⦠is that contracts donât seem to mean a lot in England â actually, in world football. It doesnât matter how long a playerâs contract is, he can decide heâs leaving. We sold a player, Fernando Torres, for £50m, that we did not want to sell, we were forced to. Since apparently these contracts donât seem to hold, we took the position that weâre just not selling [Suarez]. Itâs been great for Luis, itâs been great for us, and what will happen at the end of the year I think weâre going to make the Champions League, we have a small chance of winning the Premier League this year. We have 3 gentlemen up front Suarez/Sterling/Sturridge, [they] are young, I think Luis and those 3 could be together for a long time. http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/l...e-gambled-on-arsenal-not-taking-lfc-to-court/ --------- What could happen off the back of this? We dont want any **** at this stage of the season
Bit of bravado here. The FA arbitrated and looked at the contract and said the buyout clause was bogus.
No.. We didn't want to sell, simples.. Besides, there's a new contract in place. He's more than happy to be with us now, he's well paid, well respected and given our position in the league this year, knows that we can compete for the big trophies. We have the youngest team in the top four, all yet to hit their peak, stick with us for another 4/5 years and hopefully it will be rewarded with a few pieces of silver!
Indeed it was. Had it been the FA they'd have sent Suarez to prison for contract fraud and demoted Liverpool to the Conference for harbouring a criminal.
I suppose different contracts have different stipulations, but didn't it only mean that we were forced to enter into negotiations? They said "we'd like to buy him", we said "sod off" Negotiations over. <Meerkat whistle>
In very simple terms I believe that you are totally right. JH did not talk about the contract terms themselves of the discussions with Suarez. I feel sure that he was on far stronger legal grounds there than he is admitting to. But, at the end of the day, it is probably not a good idea to insult the person/company that you are trying to negotiate with before you even start negotaiting. Pretty dumb Arsenal.
Well, 'twas a bit of an insult, but we're not burning effigies of Arsene over it. (We'll leave that to your lot.)
I think the joke was on Arsenal, everyone laughed at Wenger and Arsenal when they tried to get one of the best players in the world on the cheap!
and the last laugh is ours.... arsenal are haded towards the toilet right now. everton in the cup is not a gimmie and city are after the treble so all in all, another trophyless season for l'arse cos you were to cheapassed to be respectful
Does Suarez look unhappy with LFC? Would he sooner be 3rd or 2nd? Is he the Prems leading scorer and the Prems player with the most assists? He got a nice payrise and we will get an excellent fee that's guaranteed to be bigger than 40m if he leaves thanks to Arsene trying to take the piss. So while you're rolling over ****ing laughing consider what that +£1 insult did for LFC. #cheersarsene
I understand from my sources that Suarez was really pissed off with his recent visit to The Emirates too. Scoring five and he didn't get one!
American bravado now... he can say what he likes after the legal battles have been won. He wouldn't risk having a star player able to leave for a reduced cost simply because the club "didn't want to sell because contracts mean **** all". The contract was widely held to say if a bid came of 40m+, the club that bid could speak to Suarez and convince him to hand in a transfer request, or agree in principle to a contract, without Liverpool's permission. The bidding club would still have to negotiate a price for Suarez but Liverpool didn't have to accept. At the time we said yeah, talk to Suarez all you want, publish your stories in the papers, convince him of your constant participation in the CL, whatever. We aren't selling at any price and we don't have to. You can unsettle him, but he's staying here. And it worked, completely.
Except that was at Anfield like.. Best player in the league, better than Bale, £40million would have been a **** sale, if Bale went for £85million. Fair play to your owners for playing this one as a footballing and not a money decision.
