Liverpool: 'Luis Suarez email is a complete fake'

Liverpool have said that an email from the club's managing director Ian Ayre discussing the sale of Luis Suarez is "a complete fake".

An image, published online earlier today, shows an email signed off by Ayre saying that Suarez does not need to return to the club after the Confederations Cup, where the striker is competing for Uruguay.

The email, which Liverpool say is fabricated, says: "Talks are an at an advanced stage, once Real [Madrid] are content with their side of the deal they will formally approach with permission to speak. This will be granted on submission of a transfer request.

"This worked particularly well in the case of FT [Fernando Torres] and gave a clear indication to our supporter base that the player was behind the move and not the club."

However, Liverpool reacted swiftly to the email and said that it did not come from within the club.

"The email is a complete fake," said a Liverpool spokesman this afternoon. "There is no truth in it whatsoever."

Suarez is currently four games into a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.