86 points

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

We were top of the table, with one game to play, things going great, and you were talking about Suarez leaving? Ok.

[RoboRiise]

We were top of the table, with one game to play, things going great, and you were talking about Suarez leaving? Ok.

 

I was exactly where BCM says he was at in terms of thinking he would be off.

 

Not sure if I really got across my mindset with my earlier post, it was nothing to do with the season we were having because I never imagined whether we had a good or bad season would ultimately have anything to do with him staying or going to begin with.  I was watching the end of last season mostly thinking to myself 'how are we going to replace this guy when he leaves'.

 

I said it was 80/20 in my mind that he would go; the 20% only came into the equation from the accounting for the possible impact of last season on his thinking, whether maybe he might decide that having got us back into the CL and come so close to a title, he might decide to give us one more season to see if he could take some medals with him.

 

In the summer previous when as BCM says he agitated for a move all summer, had it vetoed because of the club's interpretation of the clause in his contract about listening to bids/release clauses and then signed a new contract, I was 100% sure he would be off the year after.  This is football in 2014; a new contract in those circumstances doesn't mean the player has committed the next 5 years of his life to you, it means that the impediment to a move has been removed and the player's sale value has been protected by ensuring that they are on a long-term contract.

 

Obviously it turned out to be the case; he clearly didn't leave because we came second by 2 points instead of winning the title and I find it very hard to believe that he went to the World Cup and his evil international teammates turned him back into evil Suarez in two weeks as I've seen some suggest.  He left because he wanted to play in Spain, his missus wanted to move to be closer to her family and there was a deal on the table from Barca which would see him playing up top with Neymar and Messi.  I'm as sure as I can be that he would have left even if we'd won the title; it's not as if that would have been less likely to make clubs come in for him is it?

 

I'm so far past expecting some notion of loyalty from footballers these days it's not even funny - Torres was the one that finally killed that in me and it's to my eternal shame that it took that long to happen.  I have no bad feeling or bitterness at all about Luis leaving precisely because I have no such expectations, but no it definitely wasn't a shock to me.

[VladimirIlyich]

Jurgen might do.