Suárez, heading to Atlético, says he will always be a Barça fan



[ad_1]

Luis Suárez is ready to move to Atlético de Madrid after they agreed on a rate with Barcelona.

Barça announced that they had reached an agreement whereby the Catalan club would receive 6 million euros.

Suárez joined Barça in 2014 from Liverpool and helped the club win four LaLiga titles, four Copa del Reys and the Champions League in 2015.

The Uruguayan insisted that he will always remain a Barcelona fan in an emotional farewell press conference.

“I want all Culers (Barça fans) to know that I will always be one more Culer, wherever I am,” Suárez said on Barca TV.

“Thank you to all the fans for everything you have done supporting me, cheering me on from day one.

“The support I have had from everyone at the Camp Nou, from the squad, an enormous effort from everyone and this is very important to me and it will always stay with me.”

Amid all the turmoil at Barça this summer surrounding the future of Lionel Messi, it emerged that Suarez was not on the agenda of head coach Ronald Koeman, who replaced Quique Setien in August.

Suarez seemed willing to join Italian champions Juventus, but his move to Turin fell through after complications from the Uruguayan’s passport application.

Barcelona signed Suárez from Liverpool in July 2014 for £ 74m, shortly after FIFA sanctioned him for four months for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup in Brazil.

“I want to say that the club has always had such confidence in me since 2014 when they signed me,” Suarez said.

“And the conditions (in which) I came and the mistake that I made, but they surrounded me with the confidence that they always had in me. It was not easy to accept this.

“The coaches and my teammates, the way they accepted me when I arrived, it was incredible.”

Suárez, very popular with the club’s fans and in the locker room, is third on Barça’s all-time scorers list, with 198 goals in 283 games in all competitions.

He won 13 major trophies during his six seasons at the Camp Nou, including four LaLiga titles, four Reys Cups and the Champions League.

“All people know the sacrifice I have made in these years to come to Barcelona and play for the best team in the world,” he added.

“I am aware that we are at the end of an era, that I should be very proud of everything we have done.” A statement from Barça said: “FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid have reached an agreement for the loan of player Luis Suárez. The Madrid club will pay FC Barcelona 6 million euros in variables.”

“FC Barcelona wants to publicly express its gratitude to Luis Suárez for his commitment and dedication and wishes him all the best for the future.”

The club also said there will be a farewell event for the player and a remote press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Diego Simeone’s Atlético was in the market for a forward after Álvaro Morata joined Juventus.



[ad_2]