Former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has revealed that he was dissuaded from joining Premier League rivals Arsenal by Steven Gerrard.
The Gunners made an infamous £40,000,001 bid for the Uruguay international in the 2013 summer transfer window, thinking the additional pound would be enough to tempt the Reds' owners into selling.
Suarez admits that he considered swapping clubs, but long-serving captain Liverpool stepped in to talk him out of a switch at a time when the 32-year-old was serving a 10-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic.
"We qualified for the UEFA Europa League but the season ended badly," he told Otro.
"I'm about to go to Arsenal, forcing myself to go, and Steven tells me 'I promise that if you stay this year you're going to take off and next year you'll go to Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid or whichever one you want, but stay this year because you won't be better off at Arsenal'."
Suarez went on to score 33 goals for Liverpool that season to earn a big-money move to Barcelona, where he has spent the last five years.
Daniel Lewis
