Luis Suarez is not for sale, insists Rodgers

Liverpool manager confirms stance on striker’s situation.

JAKARTA: Liverpool’s star striker Luis Suarez is not for sale, manager Brendan Rodgers said yesterday, after the club 

reportedly turned down a £30 million offer from Arsenal.

Suarez, 26, has three years left on his contract with Liverpool, and the controversial Uruguayan will spend the first six games of the next season on the bench for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season.

Nonetheless, Arsenal and Real Madrid are believed to have made bids for the striker, whose floor price is set at £40 million by Liverpool.

“We had an offer that came to the club, but it was nowhere near the value and worth of what we feel that Luis brings,” Rodgers told reporters, without confirming who made the deal.



“There’s been a lot of speculation over the summer with regard to Luis moving to all different clubs. But in this moment in time, he’s very much a Liverpool player.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, also in Jakarta for a friendly last week that ended in a 7-0 victory for his team, was tight-lipped when asked about a bid for Suarez, but said he hoped ‘to be in a position where we can answer this question’.

Last month, Suarez, who was banned for racist abuse in 2011, admitted it would be difficult to turn down an offer from Spanish giants Real Madrid.

British media has reported a recent offer of £25 million by the Spanish club.

“He’s very much a Liverpool player, unless something drastic happens that would make us even consider it. As I see him, Suarez has three years left on his contract,” said Rodgers.

Moyes tight-lipped over Rooney speculation

Manchester United manager David Moyes avoided talking about the burning question of Wayne Rooney’s playing future, but club legend Bryan Robson insisted the star striker was ‘not for sale’.

Moyes, preparing the Red Devils for Saturday’s pre-season match against Australia’s A-League All Stars, remained tight-lipped about the Rooney transfer speculation at an official team lunch in Sydney.

Jose Mourinho has launched his new reign at Chelsea with a sensational offer for Rooney, saying in Bangkok where his team is on tour that the bid, for a reported £20 million, was ‘clean’ and “ethical’.

But Robson, United’s longest-serving captain, said the club was firm in its refusal to part ways with Rooney, who is back in England after leaving the Red Devils in Bangkok with a hamstring injury just a few hours into their pre-season tour.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2013.

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