Ex-Arsenal transfer chief explains £40m+£1 Suarez bid as clause theory debunked

To date, Liverpool owner John Henry has tweeted 572 times since joining the social media platform in May 2009 - so it's fair to say he only uses Twitter when absolutely necessary.

In July 2013, Henry felt compelled to let his feelings known about Arsenal's £40million bid for prolific striker Luis Suarez (well, to be precise, the offer was £40,000,001). "What do you think they're smoking over there at the Emirates?" Henry tweeted, instantly creating one of the Premier League's greatest transfer stories.

At the time, the 26-year-old Uruguayan was establishing himself as one of the best forwards in Europe. He scored 30 goals the previous term as Liverpool could only manage a disappointing seventh-placed Premier League finish under Brendan Rodgers.

Quite simply, the Reds couldn't afford to sell Suarez if they wanted to challenge for silverware. Only an astronomical figure would lure him away from Anfield, yet the Gunners thought they had triggered the player's release clause of £40,000,001.

That's what the press reported, anyway. It turned out that wasn't Suarez's release clause and Arsenal didn't think it was, either. "That spring, news got round to us that Suarez wanted out of Liverpool," Arsenal's ex-transfer chief Dick Law told GOAL in 2019.

"We knew that we had to exceed a certain threshold and so we decided to throw another pound on it. We could have thrown £50 or £500,000, but it wasn't going to make any difference to the final negotiation. The offer was just a trigger.

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"Liverpool wanted to make a big deal out of it and that's fine. When they received our offer they immediately publicised it. I think John Henry wanted to know what we were smoking, which I thought was a bit disrespectful. It was him having a bit of a go because he was getting ready to lose his star player. It was a good way to deflect attention.

"I always thought that the move to publicise it was counter-productive. One of the things we were always very proud of at Arsenal was working quietly behind the scenes. Ivan [Gazidis], Arsene [Wenger] and I always worked very hard on being discreet in all transfers.

"And I thought Liverpool shot themselves in the foot by basically saying they were now forced to entertain offers because of this clause, by publicising it they just made everyone aware and eventually they lost the player."

Liverpool certainly made a big deal of the offer - publicly rejecting it - and Suarez never got his move to Arsenal. He did, however, join Barcelona 12 months later for £75m and has since added five La Liga titles, the Champions League and other honours to his CV.

Adding to Henry's tweet, Rodgers said: "If Arsenal want the player they have to produce the value for the player. There was an offer a few weeks ago of £35m and two weeks later it is now £40m and £1. I don't think it is anywhere near the value of what he is worth.

"It is two-fold really. A player may want to go, but then somebody has to pay the value or worth of that player."