Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers orders Luis Suarez to train alone

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has been told to train alone by manager Brendan Rodgers. (Getty Images)

A furious Brendan Rodgers has ordered Luis Suarez to train alone for showing “total disrespect” towards Liverpool.

Rodgers also dismissed Suarez’s claim that he had been promised a transfer this summer if Liverpool couldn’t qualify for the Champions League. After publicly asking Liverpool to let him join Arsenal, Suarez is expected to submit a formal transfer request this week.

“There were no promises made – categorically none – and no promises broken. The club and his representatives had several conversations and he knew exactly where he was at. There has been total disrespect of the club – a club that has given him everything,” the Liverpool manager said.

“Obviously the remarks I’ve read are bitterly disappointing – but my job is bigger than that. I will take strong, decisive action, absolutely. I think Luis knows the support he’s had at the football club and that’s something that’s been unswerving throughout the whole of last season.

“My job is to fight and protect the club. We can understand if he wants to play in the Champions League – but that doesn’t mean we’ve broken any promise. Last season we based our team around his qualities and last season I made some big calls in moving players on in order for his game to flourish,” he added.

It is understood that the club has taken these drastic measures after the Uruguayan’s lacklustre displays during pre-season. Arsenal have had two bids rejected for the striker, the latest of which was an unusual £40m plus one pound offer, intended to trigger an apparent release clause.

Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, who is mediating between Liverpool and the player, has said that there is no clause that forces Liverpool to sell Suarez to a club offering more than £40m.

“There is a clause in there that if Liverpool do not qualify for the Champions League and then they receive a minimum offer of £40?million, then the parties will ‘agree in good faith to discuss and negotiate in good faith’ and see what transpires,” Taylor said.

“It is not a straightforward buy-out clause and the contract is open to different interpretations. It doesn’t say that during the course of the contract you have a right to talk to another team and also to leave for them. It doesn’t say that is an automatic trigger for a move.

“Never mind what has been said previously or verbally, it doesn’t say you’ve a right to leave. If it said the player has the right to talk to a club and agree to sign with them then it would be more straightforward, but it says the club only has to discuss things,” he added.

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that he will wait for Liverpool and Suarez to sort out their differences before making the next move for the player.

Wenger told Al Jazeera sport: “At the moment the situation is on standby. It is nothing to do with us. We have been told that the player wants to leave Liverpool and that is why we have acted. I really don’t know what will be decided by Liverpool.”