superseiyan said:
About who has a stronger hand:
The misconception here is it is Liverpool facing a 'dilemma' with Suarez, when really they do not. If the clause is triggered - or valuation met with the inclusion of a top class player such as Alexis Sanchez - they will sell. It is Suarez and his advisors who have the strategic problems. Either they get Barcelona to embrace the reality, or they consider fresh ways of making it seem their striker can't stay in England and should be released for a fee less than Fenway Sports Group and Suarez agreed prior to him becoming double player of the year.
If he pursues the latter route, not only will he not be sold, he will isolate himself from some of the only supporters in the world who still adore him and will tolerate his persistent indiscretions.
Source: Telegraph (<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/10937398/Luis-Suarez-has-messed-Liverpool-around-once-too-often-but-still-his-agents-will-look-to-get-Barcelona-cut-price-deal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... -deal.html</a>)
That article seems to have been written with a slant, its still only one way of looking at the situation.
Not particularly in response to the above, but there are some other points to take into account here.
From Suarez's perspective, he wanted to leave last summer but the club had him by the short and curlies. It was a world cup year and they claimed his buy-out clause was irrelevant. He signed a new contract (clause fee unknown) and made the right noises. Then the club admitted they'd pulled a fast one on his buy-out clause in the original contract.
So now he has done his duty and got them in the CL, but still wants away (obviously always his intention) and is probably peeved about the under-hand dealings last summer. He's hardly likely to think "oh well, never mind. Better just get my head down and get on with it". I don't think the adoration of the Kop is a big issue tbh.
Just suppose Barca say "well he can't play till nearly Xmas anyway, so you can keep him and we'll stir up shit till the Jan window". Liverpool have a very unhappy player who has no reason to try hard when he eventually gets back from suspension, and in the meantime he ties up the money they could have used for the players who might just have kept them in the top 4 and/or the CL. Even if Suarez still somehow goes for the full asking price, how much might it have cost at the end of the season through only getting his replacements in Jan (
(If Liverpool manage to get anybody decent then) ? Even just waiting till the last week or two of the window could screw things up.
With hind sight it was the right decision to keep him last summer (even though I thought at the time they should sell), but this summer is very different to last.
