Luis Suarez‘s potential move to Anfield gained significant momentum over the past week and looked poised for completion, with Metro.co.uk declaring the deal “to be completed in next 48 hours” early Monday.
Now, it appears that the sides may be more far apart than thought.
According to Dutch source Het Parool, Liverpool director of football strategy Damien Comolli went to Amsterdam Monday to negotiate Suarez’s transfer, but found that his offer of approximately £20 million ($32 million) was being met with demands of upwards of £30 million ($48 million), and negotiations thereafter were accordingly unproductive.
Given Ajax manager Frank De Boer’s desire for talks to go quickly if they were to go at all, this rift seems particularly damaging.
Further evidence of the sudden unlikeliness of Suarez’s acquisition can be seen in Kenny Dalglish‘s announcement that Ryan Babel would be staying at Anfield. Babel, who turned down a £5.8 million ($9 million) move to Hoffenheim, was hoping to instead be part of the return package sent to Ajax as part of Suarez’s transfer. That, now, seems to be off the table.
Suarez turned 24 years old on Monday. Ajax was thought to be more apt to sell the Uruguayan due to the club’s financial difficulties, but with his contract running until summer of 2013, they may not in fact be in a rush.
Suarez remains off the pitch for Ajax, still serving a suspension for biting an opponent.
