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Purpose Behind John Henry’s Suarez ‘Revelations’?

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John+Henry+Linda+Pizzuti+LiverpoolBarely 24 hours had passed since Liverpool’s impressive 3:0 victory away at Southampton when John W. Henry chose to ‘reveal’ that Luis Suarez did, in fact, have a £40,000,000 release clause in his previous contract.

When Arsenal submitted a £40,000,001 offer during the summer of 2013, John Henry called the offer an insult and, not only rejected it, but questioned what ‘they’ were smoking over at the Emirates.

“Luis Suarez is the top scorer in the English Premier League which is arguably the top soccer league in the world,” Henry said.

“And he had a buy-out clause – I don’t know what degree I should go into this – but he had a buy-out clause of £40m. So Arsenal, one of our prime rivals this year, they offered £40m and one pound for him and triggered his buy-out clause.

“But what we’ve found over the years is that contracts don’t seem to mean a lot in England – actually not in England, in world football. It doesn’t matter how long a player’s contract is, he can decide he’s leaving.”

Barely 7 months later, and it turns out that that offer did actually trigger the clause in Suarez’s contract and that the striker should perhaps have been allowed to speak to the Gunners. All this is now irrelevant (we can only hope!) as Suarez stayed, Liverpool have just toppled Arsenal and overtaken them into third and it looks like all involved made the correct decisions.

He went on to say “Since apparently these contracts don’t seem to hold, we took the position we’re just not selling and it’s been great for Luis, it’s been great for us, and what will happen at the end of year, I think we’re going to make Champions League and we have a small chance of winning the Premier League this year.”

Which is why, given how close the club is to Champions League football next season, or (whisper it) even winning the Premier League title this season, it seems incredibly odd that Henry would choose now to make such a statement.

You have to wonder whether there is some underlying purpose to this; is it some kind of boardroom mind-games intended to further increase Arsenal’s plight might showing them what they could have actually had in the summer?

Or is it a move to show that, no matter how immense Suarez is, no matter the form he’s been in this season, making him surely odds-on favourite for the Player of the Season, the club’s owner is the man in charge and he holds all the cards?

Furthermore, if Suarez wasn’t already aware of this, what is it going to do to him psychologically? He – and his agent – were adamant in the summer that there was a clause in his contract and that the club were denying him his move but the club denied this, stating that it was an oversight on the part of his agent and that no such clause existed.

Hopefully any concerns will be without foundation, but there must surely be a slight worry that this could affect the striker’s form which, we can all agree, has been one of the foundations of Liverpool’s great season up to now.

Given how the whole situation was handled in the summer, you have to have faith in the club and the owners that all of this was just a playful jibe, a dig at Arsenal while they’re down but given the reactions of some Gunners fans, you’d think Suarez was being held captive by Somalian pirates!

One thing is for sure, the majority of Reds fans have found nothing but enjoyment from this ‘revelation’, creating memes and taking great pleasure winding up Arsenal fans who are now realising that, for all their Ozil’s and Ramsey’s, a side needs top strikers like Suarez.

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I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

9 comments

  • Aaron says:

    Well done John Henry… Stand your ground, Liverpool prosper, happy days.

  • raysalaf says:

    one would think that louis` agent would have known that the get out clause was in his contract,god knows they get payed enough .

  • pino pino says:

    Suarez in the next 2years will be earning 250k/wk so I think Suarez is going to be an lfc legend.I hate all this fuss about players wanting UCL when it is obvious money rules in football afterall Arsenal promised him 180k/wk if he joins.Everyone know Arsenal round 16 so I doubt that the real reason Suarez wanted the move is bcos of UCL.Anyone doubting me should Xplain to me more.

  • Al says:

    Hang on, didn’t the clause get reviewed by someone from the FA or PFA who confirmed that the clause was watertight in LFC’s favour? … And I’m fairly sure suarez’s agent would have got in a lawyer to look into it and kick up more of a stink if the clause was there and activated?

    Or are you saying that somehow LFC blackmailed Suarez in some way to keep him at the club and keep schtum about the clause.

    I really don’t get this at all which leads me to believe that Henry must be just winding arsenal and there fans up

  • Ian says:

    He should of kept his mouth shut until the end of the season, but proper American, all he is is mouth.

  • me says:

    Before anyone starts complaining that Suarez should be at Arsenal, let me remind you that contracts are for the player, not the club. The buy-out clause merely means Arsenal can talk to Suarez IF HE WANTS. There is no evidence that Suarez wanted to go to Arsenal. Yes it can be argued that he wanted out, but he might not have considered Arsenal the step he wanted to take, or maybe thought he was worth more than what Arsenal offered and wanted Liverpool to get more. Either way, Liverpool didn’t allow that conversation to happen, but Suarez might not have wanted the conversation.

    Think of it like a house rental contract. If the owner tells you that he won’t mow your yard and puts it in the contract, but he does any way, will you complain? Yes it breaches the contract, but the owner is doing something you’d rather not.

  • stevie says:

    I’m more concerned about losing £50m. Ian ayre says things are moving in the right direction financially. Are there any accountants out there who can enlighten me as to how these losses are okay? It looks bad and I’m shocked by these results

  • CHUKWUEMEKA says:

    I MIGHT NOT UNDERSTAND FSG BUT I LIKE HENRY’S WIT….I THINK HE NEEDS SOMEONE BETTER THAN IYRE….

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