Strong words from Brendan: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/brendan-rodgers-luis-suarez-owes-5144091 Brendan Rodgers believes Luis Suarez owes it to Liverpool FC supporters to stay at Anfield this summer. The Reds boss was in bullish mood as he discussed the long-running transfer saga at the team's base in Jakarta. Rodgers is adamant that the unsettled striker is not for sale and wants him to abandon his hopes of securing a transfer. He dismissed Arsenal's recent £30million bid and suggested it would take an offer in the region of the £55million Paris St-Germain paid Napoli for fellow Uruguayan Edinson Cavani for Liverpool to even consider a deal. Rodgers also warned potential suitors, who are waiting in the belief they could land Suarez at a knockdown price late on in the window, that there is no chance of that happening. Reds fans have shown great loyalty to Suarez throughout the controversies which have dogged his two and a half years at Anfield from the race row with Patrice Evra to his bite on Branislav Ivanovic. His comments this summer about wanting to move on from the five times European Champions, and in particular being flattered by interest from Arsenal - having previously stated he wanted to quit England for Real Madrid - have strained that relationship. He has also let down a manager who has stood by him throughout but Rodgers insists Suarez simply has a debt to pay to the fans and his team-mates. “It's not about me or the club, I think it’s the supporters and his team-mates for what they gave him,” Rodgers said. “What I do is the same for anyone. My success is not just about trophies, although hopefully when I finish my career I will look back on having won things. “For me it is about more than that. It’s about making people better people and supporting them when they need it. Luis doesn’t need to show me anything because that’s what I do. “For me it’s about the great supporters we have. The backing they have given him is absolutely brilliant. “They have stood by him through thick and thin, and through all the traumas he has gone through over the last couple of seasons. “If there is anyone he owes it’s them and his team-mates, who have fought beside him, certainly not me.” The growing fear among fans is that this saga could drag on into the new season and severely hamper Liverpool's Premier League campaign. If Suarez was to be sold in late August, the Reds would have little time to reinvest the proceeds but Rodgers is convinced that won't happen. The Northern Irishman is only too aware that last season's 30-goal top scorer is key to Liverpool's hopes of competing for a Champions League spot and will do everything he can to keep him on board to help spearhead the club's continued revival. “I don't want to set a deadline or put a date on it but this is not something that will run too long,” he said. “We are totally in control of the situation. It is one where we don't have to sell. He has got three years left on his contract. “We are prepared to get some players in and spend money without having to sell Luis Suarez. The reality is that we have had one offer. “There can be as much speculation as you like, but there has been nothing beyond that. “It was an offer for what they (Arsenal) considered his value and worth. Obviously for a player of his quality, when you consider that Cavani has gone for £55million you know… Luis is up there in that bracket of top talent. “Obviously it was an offer we didn’t deem worthy of the talent and even if they came back with that kind of amount (£55million) there’s no guarantee he would be sold even for that because we are trying to build something here. “We don't want to sell Luis Suarez as we are just trying to improve the squad. You come into Liverpool, one of the giants of the world, and even though we are not where we want to be yet, we are on our way there, no question about that. “The club is on its way back. There’s massive competition and a massive challenge but we don’t want to be disabling ourselves by selling players to another club, we want to keep our best ones here. “Luis is a very important member of this squad and one of the top strikers in the world. Unless something drastic happens, he will be staying here. “We are looking forward to him helping us try to get into the Champions League spots. That's a competition we are fighting to get into. The great name and history of Liverpool dictates it should be in there.” Suarez has told Liverpool he wants to jump ship in order to secure Champions League football this term, but Rodgers believes he would be wise to remember why he enjoyed the best season of his career for Liverpool. It was a team built around the 26-year-old with a system tailored for him to shine. “The way we played last year, you mustn’t forget that gave Luis Suarez the opportunity to flourish and hopefully this year that will continue to be the case,” Rodgers said. “I made the decision last year to move Andy Carroll out on loan because I wanted to work the team round Luis' talents. All our movement patterns and our tactical ideas were based around him and he flourished from that. “This year it will be the turn of others to flourish as well because he will be an important part of the team, but it will be about the team. The way we worked really helped Luis improve his game.” Suarez is scheduled to link up with the squad in Melbourne early next week and Rodgers has no doubts that he will return from his holiday following the Confederations Cup and knuckle down. “Luis will be there, his planes are booked and he will be in Melbourne with us,” he added. “He rejoins us in Australia and he will get on with his work. I have had constant communication with him on that.”
I think that's very well handled by Rodgers. But, I just hope that is actually the case and the club backs up everything it says.
Exactly. I think the club have handled this case extremely well - a sign that the senior management are learning from mistakes.
I wonder how the rest of the team will react to Luis when he shows up in Melbourne... Hardly gonna be all, "Hey Luis, nice to see you again", after he's been begging to leave all summer, despite their support.
What I meant was, I hope the club back-up what they've said. As in actually stick by it, but I do agree that they really couldn't of said anything much better. “We are prepared to get some players in and spend money without having to sell Luis Suarez" I also find this encouraging. Two things have been put out of doubt: We won't sell to buy, and that his £40m release clause is a myth.
I said this two months ago but everyone agreed with RHC's mate and the other press So far we've improved the squad for what, 1million outlay (not factoring in tax, agent fees and other costs) which is very good business. There's still the prospect of selling Reina for another 10 to be reinvested and possibly Skrtel (although I'd rather we kept). Hopefully Downing can be shifted out too and replaced with another potential gem from abroad. All whilst lowering the wage bill. I don't see us spending any more than 20mill net, but our business will have been good overall despite that. Don't need crazy City/Chavski owners to greatly improve the squad.
The reports the other day suggested there was an argument between Liverpool and Luis' agent over said release clause. The club claim that an offer of over £40m would have to be considered whereas the agent claims that amount means the club have to allow Suarez to speak to the bidding club. Not sure why you would have a clause that says you have to consider a bid. "ah it's over the consideration clause is it, okay, let's have a look. £40,000,001? Nope!" Seems pretty pointless to me!
Define the word "everyone"... Edit: basically, you are saying everyone didn't drop everything and say "that is that then, the clause doesn't exist" after you said. Not quite the same thing is it?
Luis Suarez is in the same league as Cavani. I do not think Wenger would buy a player for that much for a player. Period of crazy bid is over at least in the premiership
Fans of other clubs (Chavski) mostly, but the a large majority of people in this board too had pretty much accepted that if 40mill was bid, he'd be off - following bollocks reports in the papers and the ITK source of RHC (who is also from the press). 40mill just allows Luis to officially negotiate terms with the other club (even though they do anyway), but the two clubs would still need to agree on a price. If he goes for 40, it's because we value him at 40, not because we have to sell at that price. Given recent interviews from Rodgers or Ayre, it would seem we value him considerably higher. Not so much that people didn't stop and agree the clause didn't exist, but that they sided with the easy choice. I'm sure I could find plenty of quotes if I could be arsed. Despite all the ****e I speak regularly, occasionally I write some stuff of value. Very occasionally...
I think the way Rodgers spoke today re. Suarez, it provides further evidence that we're in a position to command more than £40m and we're not bound by any clause.
