Arsenal’s latest Suarez bid applies further Liverpool pressure

After their initial bid of £35m plus add-ons for Luis Suarez was rejected, Arsenal have returned to Liverpool with a revised offer of £40,000,001, designed to trigger a clause in the Uruguayan’s Anfield contract. The nature of the clause in question means that the deal hasn’t moved an inch nearer to completion, but that hasn’t stopped the striker piping up.

The betting on Suarez’ club at the end of the current transfer window acknowledges the genuine confusion as to how his future will be resolved ahead of the new campaign, with Liverpool and Arsenal 13/8 joint-favourites to stable the striker, ahead of Real Madrid at 7/4.

Amidst the endless talk of release clauses this summer it may have been assumed by skim-reading Suarez-followers that it was just such a stipulation the Gunners were hoping to activate with their rather cheeky bid.

However, the clause in question merely compels Liverpool to inform the ex-PSV hit-man of Arsenal’s interest.

Despite the Anfield nibbler’s well-advertised antipathy towards the British press, it seems highly unlikely he has been going about his summer holidays in blissful ignorance of the overtures emanating from the Emirates.

As a result, the logic of the Gunners making a bid thought to be some £10m short of Liverpool’s valuation of their 2012/13 top scorer seems questionable.

If the market is to be believed Real Madrid are Arsenal’s only serious rivals in attempting to whisk Suarez away from the north west – Bayern Munich are next shortest in the betting at a distant 16/1 – but with the Santiago Bernabeu club reportedly working hard to engineer a £70m-plus move for Gareth Bale, another £50m for the Liverpool goal-machine would surely have even them searching for change down the back of the sofa.

Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers has repeatedly stated that it would take “something drastic” to prise his star striker away from the club, but Suarez has suggested he would like to enter discussions with the North London outfit and Liverpool’s resolve could well be tested to breaking point by repeated Gunners probing over the coming weeks.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date.