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Luis Suárez is furious with Barcelona after the club backtracked on a deal to let him go for free when it emerged that he was close to signing for Atlético de Madrid, sources told ESPN.
Suárez is now considering holding a press conference with his lawyers if the situation cannot be resolved to give his version of events. He believes that a verbal agreement reached with Barça this week to terminate his contract should be respected.
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After new manager Ronald Koeman told him he could leave the club last month, the forward’s legal team had been negotiating the termination of his client’s deal with Barca.
Finally, there was a breakthrough on Monday. Suárez would give up a percentage of the money he owed him in the last year of his contract and Barça would let him go for free, as long as he did not join certain clubs. Real Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain were among those named in the deal, but not Atlético.
Meanwhile, sources told ESPN that Atlético had reached an agreement with Suárez on Monday and expected to finalize the transfer as soon as Álvaro Morata’s loan to Juventus was confirmed.
However, sources told ESPN that news of Suarez’s pending transfer to the Wanda Metropolitano caused Barça to halt the termination of the Uruguayan international’s contract.
Barça does not want to secure a direct rival for the title, especially for free and without stopping paying part of his salary until next June. The decision to allow David Villa to leave for Atlético in 2013 haunted them again when the Rojiblancos he won the league and eliminated Barça from the Champions League on the way to the final.
Suarez is hopeful of joining Atleti as he would like to stay in Spain and is looking forward to working with Diego Simeone, who has been the driving force behind the search for the Atleti forward.
Sources have told ESPN that Suarez does not understand Barca’s position, given that an agreement was reached and they made it quite clear that it is not part of Koeman’s plans this season.
He has not appeared in any of the club’s three preseason friendlies when he was pushed through the starting door. He turned down the opportunity to move to Inter Miami and become the highest paid player in Major League Soccer history, while a move to Juventus did not materialize due to delays in obtaining Italian citizenship.
