Luis Suarez is furious with Barcelona after the club backtracked on an agreement to let him leave for free when it emerged he was close to signing for Atletico Madrid, sources have told ESPN.
Suarez is now considering holding a news conference alongside his lawyers if the situation cannot be resolved to give his version of events. He believes a verbal agreement reached with Barca this week to terminate his contract should be honoured.
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After being told he could leave the club by new coach Ronald Koeman last month, the striker’s legal team had been negotiating the recision of their client’s deal with Barca.
A breakthrough eventually came on Monday. Suarez would give up a percentage of the money owed to him in the final year of his contract and Barca would let him leave for free, as long as he didn’t join certain clubs. Real Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain were among those named in the agreement, but not Atletico.
Meanwhile, sources told ESPN that Atletico had reached an agreement with Suarez on Monday and hoped to finalise the transfer as soon as Alvaro Morata’s loan move to Juventus was confirmed.
However, sources told ESPN that news of Suarez’s pending move to the Wanda Metropolitano saw Barca put the brakes on the termination of the Uruguay international’s contract.
Barca do not want to strengthen a direct rival for the title, especially for free and while still paying part of his salary until next June. The decision to allow David Villa to leave for Atletico in 2013 came back to haunt them when the Rojiblancos won the league and knocked Barca out of the Champions League en route to the final.
Suarez remains hopeful of joining Atleti as he would like to stay in Spain and is looking forward to working under Diego Simeone, who has been the driving force behind Atleti’s pursuit of the forward.
Sources have told ESPN that Suarez doesn’t understand Barca’s stance, given an agreement had been reached and they’ve made it quite clear he is not part of Koeman’s plans this season.
He has not featured in any of the club’s three preseason friendlies as he was pushed out the exit door. He turned down the chance to move to Inter Miami and become Major League Soccer’s highest-ever paid player, while a move to Juventus failed to materialise because of delays in obtaining Italian citizenship.