Transfer Centre

Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman denies Luis Suarez exit claims

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 11 October 2020

Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman denies Luis Suarez's version of events surrounding his exit at Camp Nou, claiming that the 33-year-old could have stayed to prove him wrong.

Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman has affirmed that he would have been open to letting Luis Suarez stay at Camp Nou in order to prove him wrong before the striker left for Atletico Madrid.

The former Liverpool man penned a two-year deal with Barca's La Liga rivals after being told he was not in Koeman's plans going forward, with Suarez claiming that he was frozen out of the team as the Blaugrana looked to ship him out.

However, Koeman has since denied that the Uruguayan was forced out of the club, telling NOS: "In the case of Suarez, it had become very difficult for him to start playing and I made that known to him. He found it difficult, but I never had any trouble with him at all.

"He trained normally, trained well. He finally made the choice to leave and I said: 'If you don't leave, for whatever reason, then you are just one of the group, then you can prove that I was wrong'. He could have stayed, yes.

"I'm good with Luis, but the club felt that we had to rejuvenate. You can see that now in the team. Ansu Fati plays, he is 17 years old. We have Pedri, 17 years old, who gets his chances. Ronald Araujo is there at the age of 21. Trincao falls in a lot and is 20 years old, and we have taken Sergino Dest, who is 19.

"Those are all players for the future."

Suarez already has two goals and one assist to show from three top-flight appearances in an Atletico shirt, and the 33-year-old netted Uruguay's opener from the penalty spot in their 2-1 victory over Chile in Thursday's World Cup qualifier.