Barcelona’s Strategy To Beat Down Suarez’s Fee – Ian Ayre

Former Liverpool CEO, Ian Ayre, has revealed how Barcelona tried to reduce the transfer fee for Luis Suarez, after he bit Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup.

The Uruguayan striker was banned for four months for the incident, but within 10 days, Barca agreed on a £75million fee to take him to the Camp Nou.

Ayre, who has now left Anfield, speaking at a lecture at Liverpool John Moores University, opened up on how negotiations for some big transfers went.

“The hardest one out has to be Suarez, because of a) nobody wanted him to leave and b) halfway through the process he bit somebody at the World Cup,” Ayre said.

“I remember the sporting director of Barcelona calling me during that game, immediately as Suarez bit the player, and he said to me “my friend, he’s bitten somebody, how can this be the price?”

“I said “he’d already bitten somebody when you first bid.”‘

At the end of the 2012-13 season, Suarez was handed a 10-game ban for a bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.