Arsene Wenger: 'Luis Suarez agreed to join Arsenal in 2013'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 24 March 2017

Arsene Wenger insists that Luis Suarez was "very close" to joining Arsenal in 2013 after agreeing to make the switch from Liverpool, only for a move to break down.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has claimed that his much-derided offer for Luis Suarez four years ago nearly paid off, as the Liverpool striker agreed to make the controversial switch between clubs.

The Uruguay international, who has since departed Anfield for Barcelona, was made the subject of a £40,000,001 bid in 2013 - the extra £1 being enough to supposedly trigger his buy-out clause.

Wenger was ridiculed at the time, with Reds owner John Henry taking to Twitter to ask: "What are they smoking over there at the Emirates?"

However, the Frenchman is "convinced" that Suarez wanted to swap Liverpool for Arsenal, only to be kept on Merseyside for another year prior to being offloaded to Barcelona for a larger fee.

"He was very close [to signing for Arsenal]. We had an agreement with the player," he told beIN Sports. "We had been wrongly advised that he had a clause, with a minimal clause, but we had an agreement with the player. You can ask him.

"I'm convinced he wanted to join us and then they sold him. They kept him one more year, improved his contract and promised to sell him the year later to a club abroad."

Suarez has scored 78 goals for Barcelona in the Spanish top flight since making the switch, including 22 so far this season.