Brendan Rodgers Hits Back At Luis Suarez Following Strikers Plea To Join Arsenal

With the summer transfer window now open, there is plenty of gossip doing the rounds in the newspapers so we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest transfer rumours. Today, Brendan Rodgers responds to Luis Suarez’s interview comments.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has hit back at Luis Suarez after the striker confirmed he wants to leave Anfield for league rivals  Arsenal this summer.

Suarez did an interview with the Telegraph on Tuesday night where he accused Liverpool of failing to honor the terms of his contract and allow him to join Arsenal after they submitted a bid of £40,000,001. The 26-year-old claimed he had both a verbal and written agreement with the club that he would be allowed to leave this summer if a bid of £40m or more was offered by a club in the Champions League if the Reds failed to finish in the top-four.

The Uruguayan also told the newspaper that he was ready to take his case to the Premier League and was ready to hand in a transfer request in order to force his way out of Anfield. However, PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor has confirmed the clause does not state that Liverpool have to sell, although he does concede that the exact wording could be interpreted differently.

Following Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Valerenga on Wednesday night, boss Brendan Rodgers has hit back in an interview with the clubs official website where he reminds Suarez of his responsibilities while playing for a club like Liverpool FC and claims he will deal with the striker internally.

Rodgers does not indicate how the club will proceed or whether they will consider selling the former Ajax man following his outburst, but he hinted that the striker should show the club and it’s fans more respect and said that no player is bigger than LFC.

Here’s what Rodgers told Liverpoolfc.com:

“My conversations with players will always remain private. I’ll never disclose any conversation between a player and I.

“In terms of the remarks that were made, this is a football club that has always worked a certain way. The Liverpool Way is all about a club with ambition, a club that strives to be the very best, a club that is about commitment – that means that everyone is committed to the cause of fighting for the shirt.

“It’s also about dignity and being dignified in how you speak about the club, on and off the field, and it’s about unity.

“Those are the four values that run through my mind when I think about Liverpool. Those are the values we will always retain. If anyone steps outside of that standard, I will deal with it. That’s something that we’ll do.

“It means that we have a standard at Liverpool that I will fight for my life to retain. There will never be any player or person bigger than the club.”

“Professionally, Luis Suarez has given me everything since I came into the football club, but there is obviously a way in which you have to speak. This is a club that has offered Luis Suarez the utmost respect since the day he walked through the door.

“That’s something that over the course of the coming weeks you need to have when you work for Liverpool Football Club. You’ve got supporters and players that have given Luis Suarez absolutely everything – they backed him to the hilt.

“Even at the weekend, when we had Steven Gerrard’s testimonial game, the supporters raised the roof for him. That’s something that I will always fight to retain at the football club, because that is what Liverpool is about – respect, humility and real dignity.”

So it seems this saga is set to continue and the next step for the player would be to hand in a written transfer request, although that will still not guarantee that Liverpool will agree to sell, especially to Arsenal.

It’s likely that Suarez’s position at Anfield has now become untenable but if Rodgers decides to sell I’d expect they will do all they can to find a foreign buyer. For Arsenal, they could continue to wait to see how this plays out or they could test Liverpool’s resolve with a higher bid.

It’s going to be an interesting few days but I wouldn’t bet against this one running right until the last few days of the window.

Read more Arsenal transfer news | Liverpool transfer news

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