Premier League: Liverpool ready to offer striker Luis Suarez new deal in summe

Premier League: Liverpool ready to offer striker Luis Suarez new deal in summer

Luis Suarez: Liverpool striker set to hold talks over a new contract in June 2014

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre says the club are delighted to have Luis Suarez back in action and expects to start discussions with the Uruguay forward over a new contract at the end of the season.

Suarez returned on Wednesday in the 1-0 Capital One Cup defeat at Manchester United from a 10-game suspension for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, having previously served an eight-game ban for clashing with Patrice Evra.

Ayre told Sky Sports News: "For all his controversy on the pitch, off the pitch he's a great guy, he's a family man and he's very well liked.

"He keeps himself to himself with his family, he's been committed he's worked hard, trained hard.

"It's been difficult, and been difficult for him really. It's always difficult being a footballer, and being a footballer like Luis Suarez you want to be on a football pitch.

"I think it's been a challenge for him but he's got through it and I think, and he's demonstrated last night, for a first game back, for somebody who hasn't had the opportunity to play in the Premier League this season, he acquitted himself very well."

Suarez signed an improved long-term contract with Liverpool in August 2012 and Ayre confirmed that the two parties would open talks over a new deal at the end of the current campaign.

Ayre said: "We sort of begin those type of discussions two years in from the end, so it'll be the end of this season. We'll do the same with everyone and at the right time we'll have the discussion with Luis and his advisors."

The Anfield supremo admitted Suarez's latest ban had hurt the global image of the club but that he and the player were keen to draw a line under it.

"Of course, any types of incident of that nature are damaging to a brand, but Liverpool Football Club is way, way bigger and always will be way bigger than any one player or one individual," Ayre added.

"Luis is a street fighter and we had to deal with it. We've worked a lot with him since the Ivanovic incident and he's back to what he's best at - terrorising defenders.

"We all move on together. Hard work and lessons have been learnt post-Evra and we now have a process in place for any crisis. Not a Suarez crisis, just any one."

Arsenal

Ayre also insisted he bore no ill will to Arsenal for trying to take Suarez to north London in a £40m and one pound transfer in the summer.

He said: "That's the transfer market. I have huge respect for Arsenal, they're a great football club, with some great people. I'm good friends with Ivan (Gazidis). Trying to get players, making offers for players, it's all part of the game.

"Anyone who says it isn't and makes a big noise is not really being honest. Everybody does the same thing in football, everybody's trying to achieve the same thing, we're all trying our best to buy the best players for the best price."

Ayre also gave Liverpool supporters some further encouragement when he described plans over the redevelopment of Anfield as having made "huge strides".

He added: "Our ambition is to stay at Anfield, and we're about 90% down the road in securing proprieties affected by redevelopment. I'm reasonably confident, the first phase will be closer to 60,000 capacity."

And he was also pleased with the way he and owners Fenway Sports Group were managing the club's operating debt and insisted that the cost of Anfield's redevelopment had also been considered.

He said: "You should always be worried but it is important we manage the debt. The business is headed in a positive direction and we will announce numbers in January next year.

"The business is in excellent health and moving towards a profitable position. The stadium's redevelopment is easily manageable."

Premier League: Fernando Torres believes he will get a chance under Jose Mourinho

Fernando Torres: Thinks he will get a chance at Stamford Bridge

Fernando Torres does not believe Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho favours Samuel Eto'o ahead of himself or Demba Ba.

Since arriving late in August, Eto'o has seemingly emerged as Chelsea's first-choice striker.

But Torres, who started in the midweek League Cup win at Swindon, feels that he will be given a fair chance by Mourinho.

"We have great strikers and all of us are going to score goals. It's nice to have this competition. The season is going to be long like the last one. There'll be time for all of us to play in important games and score some goals," he told the Evening Standard.

"The main thing is we keep winning. We are in the top four in the Premier League and have moved one step forward in the [League] Cup.

"We're all fighting to be in the line-up, to be in the squad. It is not easy but is good for the improvement of the team. There are players who have not been involved in the last few matches and the passion and character is plain to see.

"The response of the team has been great. The match against Swindon was my first 90 minutes since the Bayern Munich game in the [Uefa] Super Cup. Sometimes you don't realise you haven't played 90 minutes for a couple of games until you feel so tired at the end."

Torres admits things have changed under Mourinho since he returned to take charge of the club in the summer.

"A new manager always brings different ideas. There are new things that we have to change from the past and that takes time," he said.

"Manchester United and Manchester City have changed their managers so we are in the same situation. It's not an excuse.

"We have a young squad, a very good one. We're working and everyone is getting better. The season has only just started and can be very good. I think we have to go like the manager says, game by game, bit by bit."

Arsene Wenger wants to stay at Arsenal 'forever' and thanks Stan Kroenke for keeping the faith

Arsene Wenger: 'This club is special,' admits Arsenal manager

Arsene Wenger is ready to sign a new deal at Arsenal and says he wants to see out his years at the club he loves.

The Frenchman has been at the Gunners helm since 1996 but eight years without a trophy had heightened speculation he could finally step down when his current deal expires next summer.

Wenger has previously kept coy on his contractual situation, admitting this season could determine his fate.

But the Frenchman says an impassioned show of support from majority shareholder Stan Kroenke of the eve of his 17th anniversary has come as a huge confidence boost.

"I'm very honoured to have the support of Stan Kroenke," said Wenger. "That he thinks I can help the club is a huge confidence vote. That is something that is very positive for me.

"I've had consistent support from inside the club. I'm very grateful because during my 17 years we have had ups and downs. They have always shown faith in me.

"I would love to be here forever because that would make me immortal! I love this club.

"I've turned down many offers (over the years). I've always thought this club is special. We have a team now that can compete and that's what we want to show.

"If I am still here today it is because I got that consistent support from inside the club.

"The good thing with me, if I have one quality, (it is that) you don't need a lot of talks to extend the contract I have.

"I want to focus on the quality of our season. I don't believe that anybody can question my commitment to this club.

"I want to feel that I do well and then the question of me staying will be secondary after that."

The Gunners manager remained relaxed about the continuing negotiations.

He added: "(We will do it) when we find time. I don't think that is the most important problem at the moment."

American Kroenke had earlier told the Daily Telegraph of Wenger: "There's no one I feel more strongly about and I think he is doing a great job.

"We have been very supportive, we have never wavered, we are proud of him, proud of the club, the way the club is run and how it holds itself out to the world."

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Henk Ten Cate says Barcelona can improve after beating Real Sociedad

Messi: Should have done better against Sociedad - Ten Cate

Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 4-1 on Tuesday, but former assistant Henk Ten Cate says it wasn't their best effort.

Speaking following the game, Ten Cate described the performance as "very decent." He went on to explain his rationale - which may seem particularly harsh after such a scoreline - by saying: "For me it was not good because if you miss so many chances you cannot speak about good. If you just look at the result, 4-1, you think fantastic result, but it should have been like 10-2."

Lionel Messi scored again, but Ten Cate was quick to point out that he could have had a hat trick, noting: "There were two or three situations where he could have had a goal, a little quicker and it would have ended up in the back of the goal."

Ten Cate blamed Barcelona's failure to convert their chances on "a lack of concentration, especially Messi - a couple of times that his first touch was not good."

Fellow panellist Guillem Balague suggested that Barcelona's offensive strategy is mutating since the "Last four or five goals have come in the same way, which is coming from the other side of where the move is coming. Pedro did it three times on the weekend, twice here [against Sociedad], it seems to be more of a collective work."

Both Balague and Ten Cate saw a return, at least for the first half, of Barcelona's high pressure strategy. Ten Cate noted that Barcelona were: "Pressing high up and recovering the ball very quickly, and keeping the pressure on Real Sociedad."

This type of pressure was a hallmark of previous Barcelona teams but, as Balague noted: "The problem is that's so tiring, so physically demanding, that I think the players didn't do it. This year it's about selecting the moment. They have to learn."

Ten Cate took issue with this statement, arguing "it's mentally tiring but not physically because if you do it correctly then the pressure you do is 10 yards to the left, 10 yards to the right, five yards back or five yards forward. Those kinds of runs, they don't tire you, they don't wear you out. You have to run much more if you have to go all the way back."

Either way, both agreed that Barcelona have room for improvement despite the impressive result.

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Friday, September 27, 2013