Liverpool To Sell Luis Suarez To Barcelona For £80million

Latest reports coming out of England suggest that Liverpool are ready to sell Luis Suarez to Barcelona for £80million as they began moves to revamp their attack. Dailymail reports that with Barcelona having made clear that Suarez's four month worldwide ban from football does not impact on their intentions to sign him, Liverpool have wasted no time in moving to offload Suarez and find the right replacements.

Though Liverpool are stunned by the length of the ban Suarez received from FIFA on Thursday for biting Giorgio Chiellini, there is an acceptance now is the right time to let the striker leave after he embroiled them in controversy once again, although it is not known how much Barca would be prepared to pay.

It was gathered that the Anfield club have concluded plans to make Adam Lallana a replacement for the Uruguayan as Southampton is believed to have finally accepted a £25million offer for the England international, four weeks after receiving it from Anfield officials.

Liverpool have also launched a bid to sign Lazar Markovic from Benfica. The Serbia international is one of the hottest young properties in European football and has a £20million release clause in his contract.

Reports have it that Suarez's lawyer Alejandro Balbi was in Barcelona on Friday to discuss his client's future when new Barca head coach Luis Enrique maintained there would be no issue about going for the 27-year-old.

He compared Suarez to the legendary former Barca and Bulgaria forward Hristo Stoichkov and said: 'Stoichkov deliberately trod on a referee but he was still considered a great player.'

Analysts believe for Liverpool to get £80million for Suarez would represent excellent business and hope Brendan Rodgers would be given the funds to reinvest in a squad that came within two points of winning the Barclays Premier League last season.

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Uruguay fans give grand welcome to disgraced Luis Suarez

Just one wrong move can cause great havoc, as Suarez will miss the remaining world cup games and will not play for Liverpool when the League begins.Uruguay’s disgraced World Cup striker Luis Suarez is set to be welcomed home by hordes of supportive fans, despite having been dismissed from the tournament by Fifa.

The Liverpool man was slapped with a nine-game international ban and a four-month suspension from all football-related activity today, after the governing body reviewed evidence of a bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.

Uruguay and their players have so far stood by Suarez, who has two previous incidents of biting to his name, and it now looks as though he will get a warm welcome home from fans too.

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FIFA opens disciplinary proceedings against Uruguay's Suarez after bite

FIFA said on late Tuesday it had opened disciplinary proceedings against Uruguay forward Luis Suarez, who bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during a game earlier in the day.

"FIFA can confirm that disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the player Luis Suarez of Uruguay," the world soccer body said in a statement.

FIFA said Suarez and the Uruguayan soccer association had until 5 p.m. Brasilia time on Wednesday to "provide their position and any documentary evidence they deem relevant".

Uruguay beat Italy 1-0 on Tuesday.

"We are awaiting the official match reports and will gather all the necessary elements in order to evaluate the matter," a FIFA spokesperson said.

Suarez and Chiellini clashed in the Italian penalty area 10 minutes from the end of the match which sealed Uruguay's progression and Italy's elimination from the tournament.

Chiellini furiously pulled open his shirt to show the mark to the referee.

Reuters photographs show what appeared to be bite marks on his shoulder and pictures also showed Suarez sitting on the ground holding his teeth immediately after the incident.

The Italians were still complaining about it when Uruguay's Diego Godin scored with an 81st-minute header to secure the win.

"It was ridiculous not to send Suarez off," Chiellini told Rai TV. "It is clear, clear-cut and then there was the obvious dive afterwards because he knew very well that he did something that he shouldn’t have done."

Suarez contested that version of events, however.

"Those are situations that happen on the pitch. We were both just there inside the area. He shoved me with his shoulder, and my eye got left like that also," he said in reference to Chiellini's mark.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said he did not see the incident, and complained that the forward was being persecuted.

"It seems there is this animosity toward him and he is being persecuted by past events," a visibly agitated Tabarez said when repeatedly being asked about the alleged bite. "There are people hiding behind the tree waiting for something to happen."

Liverpool's Suarez was banned for 10 games last year after biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match and in 2010 he was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax Amsterdam.

He missed Uruguay's World Cup semi-final against the Netherlands four years ago after being sent off for a handball on the line that denied Ghana what would have been a match-winning goal in the final minute of extra time in a quarter-final match.

Although he was not cautioned by the referee on Tuesday, FIFA's rules allow the use of video or "any other evidence" to retrospectively punish players.

FIFA's disciplinary code sets a maximum ban of 24 matches or two years, but the longest suspension FIFA has imposed for an offence in the World Cup was eight games for Italy's Mauro Tassotti for breaking Spain's Luis Enrique's nose in 1994 with an elbow.

Uruguay could potentially play four more games in the tournament and it would be a surprise if Suarez were to be given a ban of a shorter duration.  culled

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