Luis Suarez says Steven Gerrard intervened to stop him leaving Liverpool for Arsenal in the summer of 2013.
Luis Suarez says Steven Gerrard intervened to stop him leaving Liverpool for Arsenal in the summer of 2013.
Just 18 months after moving to Merseyside from Ajax, Suarez tried to force through a move to Arsenal following Liverpool's failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Arsenal reportedly made an offer of ยฃ40,000,001 for Suarez on the understanding a bid in excess of ยฃ40m would activate a clause in the forward's contract enabling him to leave Anfield.
Liverpool remained steadfast in their determination not to sell the Uruguay international to their Premier League rivals, and Suarez - who eventually made a big-money switch to Barcelona in 2014 - says Gerrard persuaded him not to join Arsenal.
"We qualified for the UEFA Europa League but the season ended badly," Suarez told Otro.
"I'm about to go to Arsenal, forcing myself to go, and Steven tells me 'I promise that if you stay this year you're going to take off and next year you'll go to Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid or whichever one you want, but stay this year because you won't be better off at Arsenal'."
"This was the last conversation I had with Gerrard at that moment and I told my agent that I had made my decision and I was staying.
taueiopsty
90
Look where's he now. Suarez should be thankful to Gerrard.
ShishirYadav
78
woah Gerrard knew abot Suarez's potential more than Suarez himself ๐๐
AIYI
55
The team WENGER ALMOST SIGN signs a nice player again
manubarca
41
You owe your career to Gerrard, I'm sure you'd have been like all these giroud them if you went to arsenal
lukzlat910
37
That ONE extra pound in the fee though ๐๐๐