Luis Suarez: Liverpool promised to let me go

London: Luis Suarez has pleaded with Liverpool to fulfil the promise they made a year ago and let him leave Anfield. The Uruguay striker insists that he is prepared to submit a written transfer request by the end of the week if the club continue to block his move to Arsenal.

Speaking for the first time since Arsenal made a £40,000,001 (Dh227 million) bid for him, Suarez told the Guardian he believes that he has been left little alternative.

Suarez claims the club told him they would let him depart if they failed to qualify for the Champions League this season and that a clause in his contract allows him to leave should someone make a bid of more than £40m.

He says he has the backing of the Professional Footballers’ Association and that he is prepared to take the issue to the Premier League to force his exit and move to the Emirates before the transfer window closes on September 2.

“Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I’d be allowed to go,” he revealed. “I gave absolutely everything last season but it was not enough to give us a top-four finish — now all I want is for Liverpool to honour our agreement.”

At the heart of the battle is the “release” clause that was included in Suarez’s new contract, signed last August. Liverpool have denied that the contract obliges them to sell to any club that offers more than £40m.

Arsenal were acting according to what they understand to be Suarez’s contractual status and the Uruguayan on Tuesday night again insisted that there is a formal agreement that he could go.

“I have the club’s word and we have the written contract and we are happy to take this to the Premier League for them to decide the case, but I do not want it to come to that,” he said.

“I don’t feel betrayed [by Liverpool] but the club promised me something a year ago just as I promised them that I would stay and try everything possible to get us into the Champions League.

“They gave me their word a year ago and now I want them to honour that. And it is not just something verbal with the coach but something that is written in the contract. I’m not going to another club to hurt Liverpool.”

The clause is sufficiently ambiguous to leave doubts over how the stalemate will be resolved. Suarez’s camp saw £40m as the threshold price at which Liverpool would have to sell, something that was publicly revealed by Arsenal’s £40,000,001 bid.

The bid, though, tested the clause and revealed that Liverpool saw £40m as the point at which they must start to negotiate, not the point at which they are obliged to sell. The PFA has been consulted about potential mediation in the search for a solution.

The letter of the law is one thing, the spirit of the law is another. Suarez clearly feels let down by what he sees as a broken promise. Nor does he speak lightly — the doubts continue over the best way to proceed.

Suarez says he was reluctant to reach this point. But he believes that the message that has come out of Anfield has not always been entirely true and that being portrayed as someone who just wants out has not always been fair.

Brendan Rogers, the Liverpool manager, insisted that he had spoken to Suarez and publicly claimed that the Uruguayan understood and accepted the club’s position. Those were remarks that surprised the striker when he saw them. The two men had indeed spoken, but when they did Suarez made it clear that he wanted to go and felt that he was entitled to do so.

Liverpool fans argue that, having supported him through thick and thin, mostly thin, they deserve greater loyalty. The club and most supporters backed him when he was charged with racially abusing Patrice Evra and biting Branislav Ivanovic. Walking away is no way to repay that. Two suspensions have led to two lengthy absences that have hurt his club — 18 games in total. He still has six games of a 10-match ban to serve.

And yet the reaction of fans over the past few days has been far from rejection, even now, even with his determination to depart so clear. Suarez played at Anfield on Saturday and took part in an open training session held at the stadium on Monday. Both times he was cheered by supporters. They appeared to have decided that they would do all they could to persuade him to stay. Nowhere would he be embraced like this.

But he disputes suggestions that he has lacked loyalty and says most fans would understand his position. His performances allow him to build a case: 51 goals in 96 appearances, 30 last season. In terms of talent, or commitment on the pitch, few doubt him. The problems have been elsewhere.

He also notes that Liverpool could make an enormous profit on the £22.8m they paid Ajax for him in January 2011. Besides, loyalty cuts both ways and he was swift to paint his decision as a purely professional one.

“They defended me, just like I defended them on the pitch. The players have always supported me and I’m grateful for that. It’s the same with the supporters. I got a great reception at the weekend and I am grateful. I don’t think the supporters are angry — I think they understand a player when he has the ambition to triumph at the highest level.

“When you are at a club for as long as you are together you stick up for each other, but that does not give the club the right to go back on their commitment.”

Last summer Suarez turned down the chance to move to a Champions League qualifier, understood to be Juventus, and he is not prepared to wait another year.

“I’m 26. I need to be playing in the Champions League. I waited one year and no one can say that I did not give everything possible with my team-mates last season to get us there.”