Sanchez’s future dilemma behind Suarez’s delayed Barcelona move

Carl Markham 05:45 05/07/2014
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  • Show me the way to Barcelona: Uruguay and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez

    Liverpool’s attempts to persuade Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez to move to Anfield mean Luis Sua­rez’s transfer to the Nou Camp will not be concluded until next week at the earliest.

    Reports emerging from Spain claimed a straight cash fee had been agreed which is lower than the buy-out clause, believed to be between £70million and £80mil­lion (Dh440m-Dh505m) – in the Uruguay international’s contract.

    However, there is no consistent agreement on what that new figure is but sources close to the Liverpool end of the deal categorically state there is no truth in the claims.

    The two parties held talks on Wednesday and it is understood Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre left that meeting confident a deal could be done which met their valu­ation. Liverpool insist nothing has changed in that regard from their point of view and the only hold up to the transfer going through is negotiations surrounding Sanchez.

    The Merseysiders’ expectations extend to the full value of Suarez’s buy-out clause, inserted into the £200,000-a-week (Dh1.2m) new deal he signed in December. Whether that amounts to a pure cash sale or cash-plus-Sanchez has yet to be decided.

    The Chile international report­edly favours a move to Arsenal, but Barcelona would like him to move to Anfield in order to expedite their move for Suarez and lessen the financial impact of the transfer.

    Liverpool are still actively pur­suing the option of Sanchez being included in the deal, but talks with the player and his representatives are likely to continue into next week. Until a definitive outcome has been reached on that the value of Suarez’s move to Spain will not be finalised.

    While the exit of Suarez remains Liverpool’s primary focus, they are still continuing with their recruit­ment drive and, having already signed Southampton duo Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana, in addition to Bayer Leverkusen mid­fielder Emre Can, they are trying to bring a third Saints man to Anfield.

    Manager Brendan Rodgers is keen to add reinforcements at cen­tre-back and a bid has been lodged for defender Dejan Lovren.

    That has been rejected, but there are suggestions the Croatian is unhappy with that and wants the opportunity to play Champions League football, which is an issue Southampton’s new manager Ron­ald Koeman will have to address as he gets ready to welcome the play­ers back for pre-season.

    Were Rodgers to succeed in sign­ing Lovren, it would most likely sig­nal the end of Daniel Agger’s Liver­pool career, with the club looking to offload him for between £10m and £12m (Dh63m-Dh75.6m).

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