Barcelona president confirms the absence of a biting-related clause in Luis Suarez's contract

Suarez appears to hurt his teeth after the Chiellini bite

Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu has told CNN that Suarez’s contract with the club does not have a ‘no biting’ clause. The Uruguay striker is currently serving a 4-month-ban imposed on him by FIFA after he appeared to bite Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in a World Cup group match. Earlier, reports revealing a peculiar clause had surfaced. As things stand, the prolific but controversial former Liverpool man is not allowed to train with his new club-mates or even to enter Nou Camp.

The 27 year old was bought by Barcelona for a reported £75m last month, and Bartomeu has said “We accept this responsibility (on being asked about the possibility of a fourth bite) and we also want this responsibility of bringing Luis Suarez to the family of football”.

Welcome words of commendation for Suarez who has been vilified in footballing as well as non-footballing circles for his moment of madness. Suarez has had moments of madness during football matches before, he has also bitten Otman Bakkal and Branislav Ivanovic during club matches, and received an inevitable red card for a goal-line handling of the ball in the 2010 World Cup against Ghana.

Bartomeu revealed that Suarez had been approached by the Catalan giants before the World Cup, and added that the FIFA ban had no effect in dissuading them from their pursuit of the player. "We didn't rethink the decision...He knows he did wrong...He apologised. That's very important for us.”

Here is how the Uruguayan had apologised to Chiellini on social media;

My apologies to Chiellini: pic.twitter.com/CvfkkjxzlM

— Luis Suarez (@luis16suarez) June 30, 2014

The Barcelona President added that he felt this is the “perfect time” for Suarez to come to Barcelona. “He's from Barca in his heart, also, so everything was perfect and created the perfect atmosphere that Luis Suarez accepted. And we know that he had better offers than our offer, but he came to Barcelona." Suarez’s agent is incidentally Pep Guardiola’s brother Pere Guardiola.

Suarez’s offences have all come in moments when there has been immense pressure on him to carry his team, one expects the star-studded line-up at his new club will ease off some of the pressure on him.