[ad_1]
Atlético de Madrid has reinforced its attack with the signing of Luis Suárez from Barcelona.
The Catalan club confirmed on Wednesday that the Uruguayan forward will leave for the Spanish capital and offer a farewell press conference on Thursday.
The agreement is expected to be for two years.
Suarez, 33, joins Atlético for free, although Barça could earn up to 6 million euros on the fly based on a number of performance-related variables.
Atlético coach Diego Simeone was the driving force behind Suárez’s play, which conceded once Álvaro Morata signed on loan from Juventus on Tuesday.
the Rojiblancos, like Barça, they are in a period of financial uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic and need to make room on their salary bill before signing new players.
– Stream ESPN FC daily on ESPN + (US only)
– Transfer Questions and Answers: How will summer transfers work?
– Insider Notebook: Man United frustrated by fans on Twitter
The move parallels David Villa’s move from Barça to Atlético in 2013. With Villa at the helm, Simeone’s team won the La Liga title and reached the Champions League final, defeating Barça along the way.
Suárez, who recently became the third top scorer in Barca history with 198 goals, was told last month by new manager Ronald Koeman that he was above the requirements.
That prompted the player’s legal team to start talks with the Catalan club about the early termination of his contract, which had a year ahead of him.
A deal was finally negotiated on Monday in which Suarez would give up a percentage of what was owed to him in exchange for being allowed to leave for free.
However, when it emerged that he planned to join Atlético, Barça, not wanting to strengthen a direct rival for free, backtracked on the original deal.
Sources told ESPN that Suarez was furious about the club’s U-turn, but a meeting between Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the player’s lawyers on Tuesday helped get things back on track.
Suárez had previously turned down the opportunity to join Inter Miami, who offered him the opportunity to become the highest paid player in Major League Soccer with a deal valued at around 8 million euros annually.
He also seemed to be close to joining Juventus at some point. However, in order to advance to the Serie A champions, he needed to obtain Italian citizenship, which meant passing a language test in Perugia last week.
Since then, that language test has become the center of a scandal, and Italian authorities confirmed Tuesday that it is under investigation by prosecutors amid irregularities.
Suárez himself is not being investigated.
Atlético had always been waiting behind the scenes and Suárez always wanted to stay in Europe. Sources say he was especially excited at the prospect of working with coach Simeone.
The forward leaves Barcelona six years after signing for Liverpool for 75 million euros. During his stay at the Camp Nou, he won 14 trophies, including four La Liga titles and one Champions League.
Suárez’s last game for Barça was an 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich, prompting the Catalan club to initiate a major squad reform. Suárez joins Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal and Nelson Semedo, who have left the Camp Nou this summer.
Source: espn.co.uk
[ad_2]
