In the transfer window, there is usually no love lost between opposing clubs – especially when it comes to the Premier League’s apex predators.
Back in 2013, Arsenal and Liverpool were both sitting pretty in upper echelons the top-flight. While Liverpool were not quite the omnipotent force that they have since evolved into under Jurgen Klopp back then, the Reds and the Gunners were still pretty much at the top of the domestic foodchain.
In recent years, it has become almost an unwritten rule that top English clubs will not do business with eachother – although Manchester City and Arsenal have bucked that trend emphatically this summer. So when the prospect of the Reds acquiring Luis Suarez from one of their top-four rivals was first raised, understandably, eyebrows were too.
It’s probably pretty safe to assume that the prospect of pinching one of their rivals top, top players probably had the Arsenal hierarchy salivating; let alone the fact that Suarez could be available for as little as £40million.
But unfortunately, if something appears too good to be true, it usually is. And Arsenal and Dick Law found that out the hard way.
Law was the man responsible for Arsenal’s transfer negotiations at the time. The former executive spent eight years at the club before he stepped down in the summer of 2017. And he has previously explained that the decision to table the now infamous bid of £40,000,001 was purely to try and encourage Liverpool to enter negotiations in a bid to strike a binding agreement.
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Law recalled: “We knew that we had to exceed a certain threshold and so we decided to throw another pound on it. We could have thrown £50 or £500,000, but it wasn’t going to make any difference to the final negotiation. The offer was just a trigger.”
Unsurprisingly, Arsenal’s cheeky bid ruffled a few feathers at Anfield. Although neither club have ever publicly confirmed the specifics of Arsenal’s bid, the offer was leaked almost immediately after it was lodged.
Law added: “Liverpool wanted to make a big deal out of it and that’s fine. When they received our offer they immediately publicised it.”
The saga particularly enraged Liverpool owner John Henry, with the Fenway Sports Group mogul tweeting out: “What do you think they’re smoking over there at Emirates” – a tweet that bagged over 30,000 likes from Reds fans.
But Law was left annoyed by Henry’s stance. And the Gunners man is convinced that Henry was just saving face as he was facing up to the prospect of losing his star man.
Law added: “I think John Henry wanted to know what we were smoking, which I thought was a bit disrespectful. It was him having a bit of a go because he was getting ready to lose his star player. It was a good way to deflect attention.”
Ultimately, Suarez stayed put – and ironically for the Gunners, the Uruguayan hitman went on to enjoy his most prolific campaign at Anfield, as the Reds went agonisingly close to Premier League glory.
Suarez plundered 31 goals in all competitions, and that form earned him a dream switch to Barcelona the following summer. The Catalan giants shelled out £75m to prise the Reds talisman away from Anfield; a far more substantial sum than the amount tabled by Arsenal 12 months earlier.
But even if they had tabled improved terms, they might not have landed Suarez anyway. Despite Arsene Wenger insisting a deal had been agreed with the former Liverpool man, Suarez claimed that he could not see himself playing for another English club.
Andrew Cowie/REX/Shutterstock)
He told World Soccer Magazine: “Playing for any team other than Liverpool in England would be hard. “I had, and hope I still do have, such a good relationship with Liverpool fans that it would be strange for me to play for somebody else.”
It’s hard to know who is telling the truth. But if Suarez was being truthful, then maybe Henry had a point…
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