Rumour: Liverpool rule out offloading Luis Suarez despite lengthy ban

Luis Suarez

Reports suggest that Liverpool will stand by star-striker Luis Suarez, despite his four month ban for an alleged bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, and are considering legal action against FIFA over the severity of the punishment handed out to the 27-year-old Uruguay forward.

Barcelona and Real Madrid target Suarez was handed a nine-game international ban and a four-month ban from all football related activity, which is believed to prevent him from even training with Liverpool, for the alleged bite during Uruguay’s 1-0 World Cup win over Italy.

The ban will see him once again miss the Premier League season’s season opening games, having missed the start of last campaign following a similar incident with Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, with Suarez unavailable until November.

However, Liverpool are believed to be resisting the urge to offload the striker, and are seeking legal clarification over the ban. Having had no involvement in the case, they are eager to establish exactly what case was made in Suarez’s defence and are remaining tight-lipped, issuing a statement postponing any official response to the ban.

The Liverpool Echo believe that Liverpool have ruled out selling Suarez, even if Barcelona or Real firm up their interest, despite the latest in a string of embarrassing disciplinary problems for the striker, who scored 31 league goals last season.

Suarez scored a goal every 96 minutes for Liverpool last season.