Barcelona: Liverpool have agreed to sell disgraced Uruguay striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona with great reluctance after trying all they could to keep him, manager Brendan Rodgers said on Friday.
Suarez is to sign a five-year deal with the Spanish giants, pending a medical. According to media reports, the transfer fee is around £64 million (Dh402 million).
“Luis is a very special talent and I thank him for the role he has played in the team in the past two years ... my time at Liverpool,” Rodgers said on the club’s website.
“The club have done all they can over a sustained period of time to try to keep Luis at Liverpool. It is with great reluctance and following lengthy discussions we have eventually agreed to his wishes to move to Spain for new experiences and challenges.”
Earlier, Barcelona and Premier League runners-up Liverpool jointly announced that the 27-year-old was moving to the Nou Camp.
Rodgers said Suarez’s £23 million move from Ajax Amsterdam to Liverpool in January 2011 had made him a better footballer.
“I think he would be the first to accept he has improved as a player over that period ... as we have benefited from him,” explained the Anfield boss.
“We are focused on the future as we strive to continue with the progress we have made and build on last season’s excellent Barclays Premier League campaign.
“I am confident we will improve the team further and will be stronger this coming season when we will be competing on all fronts, domestically and in the greatest club competition in the world, the Champions League.”
Liverpool have been champions of Europe five times, most recently in 2005, and Rodgers said he was striving to push them back among the elite of European football.
“If there is one thing the history of this great club teaches us it is that Liverpool FC is bigger than any individual,” he explained.
“I hope our supporters continue to dream and believe that we are moving forward and, with continued improvement and progression, together we will bring the success we all crave and deserve.”
