Barcelona Transfer News: Luis Suarez Reveals Madrid Talks, Hails Lionel Messi
Barcelona's big summer signing, Luis Suarez, has revealed he spoke to Real Madrid about a possible transfer before he agreed to join the Catalan super club.
Football Espana provides the quotes from an interview Suarez did with RAC 1's Primer Toc programme, where the Uruguay international spoke of Madrid's interest:
"There were conversations with Real Madrid, although at no point did I ever feel close to joining them. However, when my agent Pere Guardiola rang to tell me the Barca deal was done I began to cry, because after what happened with Chiellini I thought it was all going to fall through.
So I will always be grateful to Barcelona for their confidence in me and it's something I'll appreciate in every game. I was very emotional when they signed me and I felt overjoyed.
"
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It is a strange admission for Suarez to make even though he highlights Barca were his unequivocal first choice. After his new team lost back-to-back games upon his return from suspension, the timing is very poor.
And former Real Madrid player Zinedine Zidane recently spoke about the link connecting Suarez and Los Blancos and emphatically denied his club were interested in the £75 million player, per Joe Ridge of the Mail Online:
"There are always reports linking the big players with Real Madrid, but we had no contact with Liverpool regarding Suarez in the summer—he is not a player that we felt we needed. When Real Madrid want a player we work very hard to get the transfer done, but it was not a player we wanted.
"
Suarez is yet to win a match in a Barcelona shirt, and even the mention of the team's most bitter rivals is not needed at present.
However, Suarez also spoke about his new relationship with fellow South American Lionel Messi. He spoke of how their cultural similarities have helped them bond, per Richard Arrowsmith of the Mail Online.
"My relationship with Messi is good," Suarez said. "He's an Argentinian, so we got on very well from the beginning. He drinks mate as we do in Uruguay and all that."
Suarez arrived at Barcelona as one of the world's most prolific strikers after a fantastic 2013-14 with Liverpool. The hitman scored an outstanding 31 goals in 33 Premier League appearances, per Squawka.com, triggering his move to the Camp Nou.
But after the controversy of Suarez's World Cup, where he pushed the self-destruct button once more, he is under pressure to deliver for his new club and prove he is worth the pain of accommodating him.
Suarez now returns to one of his former clubs where he was captain: Dutch giants Ajax. It was also here where the player was first involved in a biting incident, as highlighted by Bleacher Report's Elko Born:
It is no surprise Madrid approached Suarez and talks occurred, especially when you consider how high his stock was as Liverpool raced to within a whisker of the Premier League title.
A partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, with both world-class players flanking a central Suarez, would have been mouth-watering.
The triple threat would probably have suited the Uruguayan more than his current involvement with Messi and Neymar, who are more virtuoso performers, possibly not offering Suarez the same support he would have received as a Galactico.
Both Messi and Neymar are extraordinary talents, but they are players who have their own agendas with the ball at their feet and do not offer the same kind of pace and assisting threat that CR7 and Bale do.
In time, it is highly likely we will see the best of Suarez despite his previous indiscretions and weaknesses. On his day, he is one of the best strikers of his generation, but he has to find his own niche in a Barca team that is rebuilding.
The pressure will be immense on Suarez, but he has the ego to be able to deal with this. Once he hits his stride, he could supersede Messi as Barcelona's most important player.
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