Barcelona will begin negotiations with Liverpool on Wednesday over a deal for Reds striker Luis Suarez.
Officials from both clubs will meet in London to discuss a deal for the 27-year-old Uruguay international.
Suarez, who has four years remaining on his Liverpool contract, is serving a four-month ban for biting Italy's Georgio Chiellini during the World Cup.
Liverpool are likely to accept an offer of £80m for Suarez, who joined for £22.7m from Ajax in 2011.
However, Barcelona are understood to want to pay closer to £60m.
Any deal may depend on whether Barcelona can include Chile and Barcelona winger Alexis Sanchez in part-exchange for Suarez.
Liverpool are pragmatic about Suarez's ambitions and are aware that he would welcome a move to Spain and particularly to Barcelona.
It is not yet clear whether Sanchez would be willing to move in part-exchange, although the Spanish club would be willing to include him in a deal.
Suarez apologised on Monday for biting Chiellini, after which Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said: "Suarez has shown he is humble enough to admit an error, which is very important.
"Everyone knows Luis is an excellent player, everyone knows last season he played in various positions in attack, but everyone also knows he is a Liverpool player."
Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic, who completed his move to Barcelona from Sevilla on Tuesday, also praised Suarez.
He said: "The fact he has had the character and the strength to go in front of everyone and say sorry says a lot about him as a person.
"Not every person has that strength to admit they have done something stupid.
"Regardless of whether the club signs him or not, his quality is unquestionable."
No comments:
Post a Comment