Q So who is telling the truth? Do Liverpool have to sell Luis Suárez because they have received an offer in excess of £40m or is that figure simply a trigger to begin, or merely consider, negotiating?
A We have not seen the contract so we are speculating and we do not know how much posturing is going on, possibly from both sides, but it is possible that it could contain a clause which is not legally enforceable. As players are such valuable assets, clubs really need to use specialist sports lawyers and Liverpool may well have done so but, equally, there have been cases of club secretaries drafting clauses at 11 o'clock at night that turn out to be not legally enforceable. Such clauses will not stand up in court.
What about the verbal assurances that Suárez believes he received from Liverpool, agreeing to let him leave if someone offered more than £40m?
Any such assurances are legally irrelevant as Premier League contracts contain something called an "entire agreement" clause which excludes, or overrides, all prior verbal agreements. Morally it is a different matter, of course.
Can Luis Suárez force his way out by submitting a transfer request?
It would not make any difference. The press always make a big thing of players potentially submitting transfer requests but they actually are a non-factor in football. In Suárez's case it all depends on a specific clause in his contract but generally, if a player is under contract, it is up to the club whether they sell or keep him. If a transfer request is issued, a player might lose part of a signing-on fee these are usually paid in annual instalments but, in the wider scheme of things, the amount of money forfeited would be relatively small and cancelled out by the financial benefits of being transferred.
