PFA chief Gordon Taylor admits Luis Suarez sympathy - and fires contract clause warning
The boss of the Professional Footballers' Association believes wantaway Luis Suarez should be allowed to leave Liverpool and says the saga is a warning to clubs over contract clauses.
Suarez - the subject of two failed Arsenal bids last month - has claimed Liverpool are refusing to honour a clause in his contract reportedly allowing him to leave Anfield for £40m-plus if the club failed to qualify for this season's Champions League.
Suarez trained alone on Wednesday as Liverpool maintained their defiant stance that their star player was not for sale.
But while the PFA's chief executive, Gordon Taylor, sympathises with the Reds' attempts to keep the Uruguay international on Merseyside, he believes resistance could prove futile.
Taylor, who earlier revealed that the PFA was trying to help both parties reach a solution, told Sky Sports News: "We have tried to get a settlement of this but there are a number of other big-name players who are in situations where clubs are offering, clubs are refusing and it has to be sorted between the club and the player.
"It's created a real problem and that's why we need to be mindful in the future of such clauses."
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor
"What is quite clear is that an offer in the region of £40m has been turned down and if Luis Suarez is determined to leave you don't see any sense in a player being where he doesn't want to be.
"On the other hand we've a short period of time in the window and if you're going to lose a player as good as Luis Suarez you need time to replace him and you need good money and no doubt that will be on Liverpool's mind.
"It's created a real problem and that's why we need to be mindful in the future of such clauses and if it is going to be a buy-out clause it says that, and there's no ambiguity and no misinterpretations because it's obviously the case that that has happened."
Suarez had earlier said: "Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that, if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season, I'd be allowed to go.
"I gave absolutely everything last season but it was not enough to give us a top-four finish. Now all I want is for Liverpool to honour our agreement.
"I have the club's word and we have the written contract and we are happy to take this to the Premier League for them to decide the case, but I do not want it to come to that."
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