Luis Suarez has revealed he was close to joining Real Madrid before moving to Barcelona in 2014 – and how Arsenal were key to the proposed transfer.
Suarez left Liverpool for Barcelona after the 2014 World Cup for a fee of around £65 million, but the Catalans’ fierce rivals had previously been strongly linked and the Uruguayan has admitted their interest was genuine.
“Before the 2014 World Cup, Real Madrid wanted me as they wanted to sell [Karim] Benzema to Arsenal. Barcelona at the time was [also] interested and Luis Enrique was pressing,” Suarez told Del Sol FM in an interview.
“The bite case happened and Barcelona continued to want to sign me despite the punishment. I will always be grateful for that.”
Benzema had interested Arsenal for some time and at that point, Madrid were less sure of their French forward, who would go on to become a legend at the Santiago Bernabeu.
And the bite case Suarez is referring to is the incident at the 2014 World Cup, when the Uruguayan bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.
That earned the former Liverpool striker a four-month ban from football and put off a number of clubs, including Real Madrid.
Los Blancos’ president Florentino Perez later claimed Madrid had never been interested in signing the Uruguayan.
Both Suarez and Benzema ended up doing pretty well out of the situation, with the Uruguayan winning a treble at Barcelona and the Frenchman playing an important part in Madrid’s three successive Champions League crowns after that.
Suarez, with 195 goals, is Barça’s third-highest scorer in history. Benzema, with 354 in his 14 seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu, is second in Real Madrid’s all-time list.
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