http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/wenger-suarez-deal-up-to-reds-
Wenger: Suarez deal up to Reds
Arsene Wenger last night hinted Arsenal are ready to give up on their pursuit of wantaway Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
By Dylan King
The Gunners have previously seen a specific offer of £40,000,001 — which was believed would trigger Suarez’s release clause — rejected out of hand by Liverpool.
Wenger, whose side play Manchester City in their final pre-season friendly before the start of the Premier League season in Helsinki today, is still hopeful of an “amicable” breakthrough in the long-running saga but acknowledged Liverpool will have the last word.
“If it will be done, it will be done in a respectful and amicable way with Liverpool,” Wenger said.
“I didn’t read [Liverpool owner John W Henry’s] statements but we’ll be faithful to the way we want to behave.
“We are looking at possibilities to strengthen our squad. Suarez is one of the targets. If he’s not for sale, he’s not for sale. We have to accept that.
“To make a transfer happen, you need the agreement of three parties — the buyer, the seller and the player.
“We know what we want to do. The player, if I look at the statements [does] as well. Liverpool at the moment do not agree. If they change their minds or not, I don’t know. We’ll respect that.”
Meanwhile, Gareth Bale is still hopeful of securing a move to Real Madrid despite Florentino Perez appearing to cast doubt on the deal on Thursday.
Real have maintained a constant public campaign to try to woo Bale, with a number of senior players admitting they would love the Tottenham forward to join them at the Bernabeu. Perez appeared to question whether the nine-time European champions would be willing to stump up the world-record fee required to persuade Spurs to sell their prize asset.
“€100m seems to me like a lot of money, all things considered,” Perez said.
Some construed Perez’s comments as evidence that Real were going cold on the deal, but sources close to Bale insisted yesterday that talks are still ongoing over a transfer.
Tottenham reportedly want at least one Real player plus cash in return for Bale, with Portugal left-back Fabio Coentrao the most prominent name mentioned of late.
Bale, meanwhile, is expected to sit out Tottenham’s friendly against Espanyol today.
The 24-year-old has been taking part in one-to-one sessions as he bids to recover from a foot injury. But even though he has been selected for Wales’ game against Ireland next week, Andre Villas-Boas is unlikely to play the forward at White Hart
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