By Andrew Warshaw
July 17 – Barcelona have announced that Luis Suarez is now “100 percent” their player even though they cannot officially unveil the £75 million striker because of his FIFA ban for biting at the World Cup.
The Uruguayan is set to miss the start of the La Liga season as a result of his four-month ban from all football-related activity for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini, but Barca director of sport Andoni Zubizarreta (pictured) told a news conference the Uruguayan was now “100% a member of the club,”.
Suarez will be unable to even train with the team until late October, unless an appeal lodged with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is successful.
Zubizarreta believes the disgraced former Liverpool forward will be a vital acquisition and refused to criticise his behaviour at the World Cup. “We accept people here, imperfections and all,” he said. “I am sure Luis Suarez will be someone positive for us in the future.”
Suarez’s ban was the biggest in World Cup history, eclipsing the eight-game suspension given to Italy’s Mauro Tassotti for elbowing Spain’s Luis Enrique – now the new Barca coach – in 1994.
“That Luis Suarez will not have been able to train for four months does not alter our plans because we always knew it,” Enrique said. “It’s bad that he’s not with us from the start, but it’s not a tragedy. Someone else will play. Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Neymar – coaches want to have the best players and the more, the better.”
Suarez, last season’s Premier League top scorer with 31 goals, had four years left on his contract at Anfield. With three of the best strikers in the world now on their books, Barca will hope to make up for failing to win a major trophy last season for the first time in six years.
If the transfer fee is confirmed at £75 million, it will be the third largest in football history after Gareth Bale and Christiano Ronaldo, both at Real Madrid.
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