I cannot stand the man and his diving antics.
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The divings i can live with. We've had our share as well (Eboue, Pires). Naturally the allegations of Racism and the infamous biting is something you cannot condone.

Bat, don't get me wrong, Suarez has done some truly vile stuff. But we've always maintained that he's a truly top class player. One that can turn our fortunes around.

Suarez at Arsenal, alone, would make us serious trophies challangers. Add to that another 2 top class players and we could be competing for serious honours.

fair enough .....but i dont think your in the hunt for the title...... city and chelsea are hammer it out with united

Its a relief he has finally come out and said it. We were all going on speculation and contradicting media reports. I feel this is not over because LFC are not stupid either and they seem super confident in their position that they are not forced to accept a bid of 40m so there must be something to that.

Suarez has boxed himself into a corner where he has already burnt his bridges at LFc and Arsenal are his only takers so far whereas I'm sure he expected more suitors to have surfaced by now.

Its funny how he has not put in a transfer request. That should have been done already as he really wants to leave so much. It would be best for all parties as I think it would allow LFC to accept a slightly lesser fee and move on.

LFC's position seems to be
1. We want to keep Suarez.
2. If we cannot then our valuation must be met.
3. The clause does not bind us to accept any bid we find substandard.

Alot of people don't like or want Suarez at Arsenal, me included. However, it appears that Arsenal are doing little or nothing to improve the squad otherwise, so if it's Suarez or nothing then it's really a no-brainer.

Limpar

Why are you quoting 'classless' when no one at our club has actually called you that. BR may have suggested you weren't you usual class when dealing with the Suarez bid but you can't just create quotes that don't exist.

Kelly, even then in light of Suarez's comments, you have to question why Suarez is upset about our bid. It's clear to Suarez that a clause exists and Arsenal activated it. So what's with the 'Class' comment?

As i said in the OP, Rodgers next press conference will be very interesting. Suarez has effectively called him a liar.

you have to question why Suarez is upset about our bid
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Sorry, i meant Rodgers.

I was merely commenting on how Limpar used quote marks to suggest that we literally called you classless when we never have. You can't just put quote marks around something that has never been literally said or you're just as bad as the media. My comment didn't really have relevance to the article.

In response to the article I believe that there is a clause but I don't think it is a release clause. Our lawyers aren't that stupid as to not tell us if we're that in the wrong. Either being able to leave the club was a verbal agreement which we feel puts us in a difficult position because we are getting below what he is worth and strengthening our only chance at the possibility of CL (the reason why he wants to leave ironically) or Suarez and his agent have misunderstood the clause of his contract.

Suarez's agent has had th bet part of two weeks to thoroughly check over the clause, after Arsenal's £40m+ bid. If they were in the wrong i would have thought Suarez would have backed off by now. Instead he's chosen to inflame the situation and cited the agreement as a contractual one, not only a verbal one.

This just means that we can expect a few more days of gossip, rumour on what steps will be taken next. We can all bust wait to find out how this clause saga unravels.

Admittedly I think BR shouldn't have made those comments but there is no doubt you have unsettled our player now with a bid that is far lower than we clearly believe him to be. Fair enough though it's not your fault I suppose but it's a frustrating situation. No offence but Arsenal is the last club I would want to see Suarez at because of where we are in terms of challenging for the top 4.

Honest question though haven't you complained of other teams unsettling your player with lower than expected bids before?

I don't know Suarez seems to suggest in his interview that it was a verbal agreement which unfortunately means next to nothing in the legal world. I reckon he's making threats of legal battle to speed up a transfer but I'm not convinced he has a strong case.

No offence but Arsenal is the last club I would want to see Suarez at because of where we are in terms of challenging for the top 4.
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None taken. I fully empathise with Liverpool predicament. You simple cannot afford to sell to Arsenal. It would mean kissing goodbye to top 4 place, for a while. But if there really is a release clause applicable to CL clubs only, there's little you can do about it.


Honest question though haven't you complained of other teams unsettling your player with lower than expected bids before?
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I think most of the hardcore Arsenal fanwould sympathise with Liverpool's position. We've been at the brunt of our best players wanting to leave for years. In fact we've made an art of it.

However, one thing Liverpool can learn is not to do it the Arsenal way. Too many times we've delayed the sale of the player meaning little time to replace him, much to the detriment of the squad.

If Liverpool want to sell, they be best doing it quick. Get a replacement, gel him in with the rest of the squad and move on.

I don't know Suarez seems to suggest in his interview that it was a verbal agreement which unfortunately means next to nothing in the legal world.
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I've linked his comments on the OP. He mentioned a verbal and contractual agreement.

I don't know Suarez seems to suggest in his interview that it was a verbal agreement
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No. Thats what Liverpool fans in the media would like you to believe. He said we made the contract on that basis, ie with a clause. Thats quite clear and always has been. The editor of the Liverpool echo should be fuming because he was lied to. First there was no clause, then there was a clause but it only meant he could talk to the player, then there was a clause and that allowed him to only negotiate, after that the clause exists but Arsenal are not a Champions League club because they haven't qualified.

Liverpool have been shifting the goal posts because they have ballsed it up. Frankly if Liverpool are so sure why don't they produce the contract. Suarez cannot do that because clubs own the contract and so they have to release the confidentiality agreement, NDA.

Fair enough, as fans we cannot truly know what is in the contract unless it comes out at court. Until then this all speculation and one party's word against another. I don't feel like I can judge anyone until it is clear exactly what happened. If the contract clearly states we will let him go if a CL club comes in for him (question marks over whether a qualifier counts as a CL place) and we are truly in the wrong then I will be ashamed.

It's a pain though as we now have to sit through all this for the next month without really knowing what's going on and resorting in petty arguments without substance.

Kelly

Liverpool could have said to Suarez we will not accept a clause or we will only activate the clause to a non-English club. But they didn't. They ballsed it up.

The problem is that if the premier league allow this to be tested in court the premier league will lose out badly. Nothing will change just that you will have an extremely unhappy player in the dressing room if he loses and the entire premier league will lose if he wins. Keep in mind release clauses are allowed in Spain and other countries.

How did Liverpool sign Joe Allen from Swansea? Release clause.

I see this is a situation where Ayre has misled his owner. I doubt Henry knew this or he would not have tweeted that silly statement. In my opinion Ayre should be fired. You can call me biased but we have seen this with RVP.

But that's the thing though. We don't know for sure what clause there is. You can speculate all you like from what is said but the bid has been rejected. I cannot see how we would reject the bid if it activates a clause saying that he is free to leave. We simply don't know what is in there and I don't want to get into arguments where the basis of the evidence is media speculation or because he said so in an interview.

I cannot ever remember us complaining about a player being unsettled simply because a club has put in a bid for our player,meeting them in shady hotel rooms and ice cream parlors yes,phony radio show pranks pretending to be RM then RM miraculously make a bid yes and we all know how certain papers work for and highlight interest for players just to unsettle ours for there FC employees.

But 1 thing is fact ,if a player plays in a CL qualifier and is then sold,he is sold as a cup tied player so this hold up has nothing to do with if we are in the CL or not,we are in the CL in every other sense now,we may get knocked "out"just like at any other stage of the CL,no brainer,no case needed ie there's something else going on,
I for one am not happy with the personage of LS and hoped my club would have sought other targets instead but like another poster suggested players come and go I support AFC.

There is either a clause that can or has been activated or there isnt.

If there is and Liverpool are denying Suarez the benefit of this legally binding agreement, then they are in breach of contract.

It is quite simple and will come out eventually.

It is quite simple,
I put it to you its clearly not,are you saying that your smarter than all the legal team at LFC as i assume if it was as cut and dry as you claim they would have released him way before now,there's obv more to it than we know

Interesting views from the PFA and Gordon Taylor. The Suarez contract is stuck on "interpretation". My guess is, it's that interpretation of whether Arsenal have qualified for the CL or not, that is the sticking point.

I have been saying to Liverpool fans, and I think you seem to be a fair one, that we get so bogged down on contract issues. But a few things in law.

Liverpool can reject on minor terms. For example they can say that Arsenal are not in the Champions League proper so the clause does not apply. Now that can be disputed in court, but its a valid dispute that needs to be arbitrated. Liverpool will lose if they are using that loophole but it buys time for a bigger bid. In my opinion thats what they have been doing. But there is no one else willing to spend £40m. So Liverpool are only hurting themselves in the long term because it gives them less time to find a replacement. It also disrupts pre-season.

Now lets put the contract to the side for a minute. What is a contract? It is just a formalization of terms between two parties that have agreed to perform a certain service. If one party does not want to do it anymore the contract really is only there to confirm the points of exit. You cannot force people to do anything against their will. So what are Liverpool doing? It just doesn't make sense. All gooners knew as soon as RVP released a similar type of statement that it was over and he was on his way to Man Utd. Liverpool are only dragging their club down.

Difference is RVP was on his last year and would have lost him for nothing if they held out. Suarez has 3 years left and will still retain value so I don't think RVP is a very good example.

As much as you say we the contract doesn't hold him to his will that's true. But if he goes against it (just as we possible could be to him) then we could take him to court (just like Chelsea did to Kezman). As it stands he cannot play for Arsenal until his contract is terminated through a way stated in his contract, you can't just ignore it without being taken to court.

If Liverpool geniunely feel they have the upper hand on the contract, then this is going to court. Cannot see a way forwards until it does.

We're all just blindly guessing at what the contract is

Liverpool seem adamant that the clause does nothing other than allow other sides to speak with him (CL or not as far as I can tell)

Luis seems to think otherwise and has thrown the verbal agreement in as well.

A transfer request does absolutely nothing in a binding way to force a transfer, but it makes it all public and probably removes any loyalty bonuses.

Dunno, we'll just have to wait and see what kind of bottle John Henry has in the matter.