Barcelona make headway in Suarez talks

Liverpool talks with Barcelona over the intended sale of striker Luis Suarez has been reportedly productive even though a deal is yet to be finalised between the clubs.

Reds chief executive Ian Ayre spent the bulk of yesterday discussing with senior Barcelona officials in London.
The Reds stood their grounds that Suarez, 27, will not be sold for less than the release clause in his contract,which is believed to be between £70m and £80m.
 

Suarez, who joined Liverpool for £22.7m from Ajax in 2011 and has four years left on his contract with the Merseyside Reds, is currently serving a four-month ban for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup match between Uruguay and Italy.

Barcelona are reportedly understood to be planning on paying a fee close to £60m for the Uruguayan strike veteran, and any deal may include 25-year-old Chile winger Alexis Sanchez, who is also wanted by Juventus, crossing over to the reds.
However, while Barcelona are willing to include Sanchez as part of the deal, Liverpool do not see the forward's involvement as crucial and there is a growing sense at Anfield that Barcelona are close to offering a figure that the clubs can agree on.
Speaking at a media conference on Wednesday, Barcelona club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said: "This year we are going to restructure the team in depth and we are working on that.
"We have been working on that since February, but I can't reveal things we are doing.
"We have to be discreet - we can't give clues to other teams.
"We do have a lot of negotiations at a very advanced stage, but the World Cup is going on. People are speculating about a lot of players at the World Cup, but there's a lot of different factors."
Pressed on Suarez, he said: "He's a great player, a global star and we want him to play as well as he's playing up to now. I'm speaking as a football fan.
"He's a player who needs to rebuild himself and get back to playing football."
Liverpool are willing to help Suarez realize his ambitions of playing in Spain, and particularly for Barcelona.

Suarez on Monday apologised  for biting Chiellini, after which Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said: "Suarez has shown he is humble enough to admit an error, which is very important.
"Everyone knows Luis is an excellent player, everyone knows last season he played in various positions in attack, but everyone also knows he is a Liverpool player."
Bartomeu described the player's decision to apologise as "honourable" and "good for football".
"He did something wrong and I think it's everybody in football's responsibility, whether it's Liverpool or others, to help him to go ahead and press on with his football career. It's not easy to admit your mistakes," he said.
Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic, who completed his move to Barcelona from Sevilla on Tuesday, also heaped praises on Suarez.
He said: "The fact he has had the character and the strength to go in front of everyone and say sorry says a lot about him as a person."