• Premier League

Gerrard stopped me making Arsenal mistake - Suarez

ESPN staff
November 13, 2014
Luis Suarez eventuall left Liverpool for Barcelona this summer © Getty Images
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Luis Suarez has thanked his former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard for persuading him not to sign for Arsenal last summer.

Uruguay international Suarez came close to leaving Anfield for the Emirates after Arsenal attempted to trigger a £40 million release clause in his contract.

But although the move did not go through, with Liverpool feeling they were not legally obliged to sell, Suarez and his agents were reportedly close to taking legal action to force a transfer.

The striker subsequently signed a new Liverpool contract and went on to score 31 Premier League goals last season as his side came close to a first league title since 1990. He moved to Barcelona in a £75m deal this summer.

In an extract from his new autobiography, published in Sport, Suarez credits Liverpool skipper Gerrard with stopping him from joining a "lesser" club.

"It would have been a big error that I would have made had it not been for Steven Gerrard," he said. "We spoke about this when I went to Melwood [Liverpool's training ground] to pick up my things at the end of the summer and he said: 'You did the right thing, you waited until the best moment.'

"He had told me [the previous summer] to play well for Liverpool, give it another year and it will be Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Barcelona coming for you and then you can go where you want, because you have the quality to play at any of those three clubs."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
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