La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have reached an agreement for a £5.5m deal for the transfer of Barca striker Luis Suarez to Atletico Madrid.
Suarez, 33, had joined Barca in 2016 and he still had one year left with the club. However, coach Ronald Koeman told Suarez last month that he was not part of his plans.
The Barcelona official website read: “FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have reached an agreement for the transfer of the player Luis Suarez. The Madrid club will pay FC Barcelona 6m euros in variables.”
The club expressed their gratitude to Suarez for all he did during his tenure with the club. “FC Barcelona would like to publicly express their gratitude to Luis Suarez for his commitment and dedication and wishes him all the best for the future,” the club said in a statement.
It was initially speculated that Suarez would go to the Italian champions Juventus but for the delays in obtaining Italian citizenship played spoilsports and didn’t allow the deal to happen.
Now, the Italian financial police and the Perugia public prosecutor’s office have begun an investigation into allegations of irregularities related to Suarez’s citizenship exam last week. It is doubted that Suarez was privy to the contents of the assessment before taking it and that his score was pre-assigned.
Now, after the new deal, Barcelona will organize a farewell event on Thursday 24 September from 12.30 pm CEST for Suarez, followed by a remote press conference. Viewers can watch all the day’s events surrounding the Uruguayan striker’s goodbye live on Barça TV+, FC Barcelona’s official digital streaming platform.