Liverpool Football Clubs’s principal owner John W Henry has confirmed that striker Luis Suarez did have a £40 million pound release clause in his contract.
Speaking at the Sloan Sports analytics conference Henry said “Luis Suarez is the top scorer in the English Premier League which is arguably the top soccer league in the world,”
“And he had a buy-out clause – I don’t know what degree I should go into this – but he had a buy-out clause of £40m. So Arsenal, one of our prime rivals this year, they offered £40m and one pound for him and triggered his buy-out clause.
“But what we’ve found over the years is that contracts don’t seem to mean a lot in England – actually not in England, in world football. It doesn’t matter how long a player’s contract is, he can decide he’s leaving.
“We sold Fernando Torres for £50m. We didn’t want to sell but we were forced to. For the first time (with Suarez) we took the position that we weren’t selling.
“Since apparently these contracts don’t seem to hold, we took the position we’re just not selling and it’s been great for Luis, it’s been great for us, and what will happen at the end of year, I think we’re going to make Champions League and we have a small chance of winning the Premier League this year.
“We have three gentlemen up front: Suarez, Sterling and Sturridge. Those three are young, and I think Luis and those three could be together for a long time.”
It’s a remarkable confession from Liverpool’s owner but it is refreshing to see an owner sticking to his guns over a player wanting to leave. He has also been proven correct as Luis Suarez has been in sparkling form for Liverpool this season.
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