download All Football App

Suarez to Villa: Atletico won't sell in January amid reports

  /  autty

Atletico Madrid will not allow Luis Suarez to leave in the current transfer window, despite reports linking the Uruguayan with a sensational return to the Premier League at Aston Villa.

Suarez is said to be keen to engineer a reunion with ex-Liverpool colleague Steven Gerrard, now in charge at Villa Park.

But while Suarez has struggled for form recently, his current club has no intention of sanctioning a sale midway through the season.

GOAL has learned through sources inside Atletico that the Madrid side will not let their star striker go before the end of his contract on June 30.

Reports in Spain claim that Suarez has rejected offers from Brazilian giants Corinthians and Atletico Mineiro, as well as an unnamed club in Saudi Arabia.

The bid that has supposedly caught his eye is from Villa, with Gerrard personally contacting him to express the Premier League team's interest.

If a deal does arise, however, it will go through in the summer, when the 34-year-old's deal expires.

Suarez caused a stir in 2020 when he swapped Barcelona for Atletico, following Ronald Koeman's admission that he would not be taken into account for the coming season.

He immediately sought to prove the Dutchman wrong with a fine season under new boss Diego Simeone, smashing 21 Liga goals to deliver the Colchoneros' first league title since 2013 while Barca finished in third.

The 2021-22 campaign has proved trickier for the veteran, though, interrupted by international commitments for Uruguay and struggles with fitness.

He has managed just seven league goals for Atleti to date, the last of which came in November, and completed the full 90 minutes on a mere three occasions.

Nevertheless, GOAL understands that Atletico are confident that he can recover his best form this season and will give him more time to get back to his peak, while a further contract renewal is still possible at the end of the term.