Luis Suarez has become the Premier League’s third highest-paid player with a new four-year deal which will deliver him a bonus if the club achieve a top-four finish.
The deal is believed to increase Suarez’s salary from £120,000 (Dh720,000) a week to around £200,000 (Dh1.2m) – making him the highest-paid player in the club’s history and trailing only the Manchester United pair of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, who command £250,000 (Dh1.5m) a week each.
Manchester City’s Yaya Tour commands slightly less than £200,000 basic, with add-ons potentially taking him to £240,000 (Dh1.4m). The four-and-a-half-year deal will bring Suarez no bonus for winning the league this season.
But it is thought to include the exit clause that the 26-year-old’s representatives were frustrated to find missing this summer, when they discovered that the fine print of the player’s contract obligated Liverpool only to inform Suarez if a Champions League club bid for him but not to let him leave for that club.
The size of bid which would now force Liverpool to sell is not known – nor can it be made public by any party to the contract, as that would hand a potential bidder knowledge of how much they have to bid.
The new deal is a tribute to Brendan Rodgers’ powers of manmanagement. Prouder and less flexible managers would have struggled to heap such praise and encouragement on Suarez, who effectively accused him of reneging on a promise by refusing to let him leave this summer.
But the strong bargaining position occupied by Suarez’s representatives – who were negotiating this week for the most prolific striker in Europe – will have allowed them to drive a hard bargain on the level of the get-out clause.
The deal reflects far more than a mercenary mind-set in the player, however. He and his representatives see what substantial strides Liverpool have taken this year under Rodgers and feel that Liverpool are moving in the right direction.
The striker, who has scored 17 goals in 11 appearances this season and is in the side to face Cardiff today, said: “I am delighted to have agreed a new deal and have my future secured for the long term.
“We have some great players and the team is improving. I believe I can achieve the ambitions of winning trophies and playing at the very highest level with Liverpool.”
© The Independent
