Luis Suarez departed Barcelona in a stunning move to Atletico Madrid earlier this summer after Ronald Koeman took over at the Nou Camp.
Despite becoming a club icon during his time at the Nou Camp, the striker was let go under controversial circumstances.
Atletico paid just £5.5million for the 32-year-old, with Lionel Messi slamming the Barca board on Instagram for letting him go without a proper send-off.
And the striker believes part of the reason behind his departure was because Barca’s board was unhappy at him for showing support Messi when the Argentine intended to exit his contract and become a free agent, and that they wanted to keep the pair apart.
“Out of respect for the relationship I have with Leo, I'm not going to say what we talked about at the time, but he lived through a difficult and complicated situation,” Suarez said.
“He wanted to leave and the club did not want him to. I tried to support him, take care of him and distract him a little.”
“I think they wanted to get me away from Messi’s side, perhaps it bothered them that I have a good relationship with Leo.
“Maybe they wanted him not to be with me so much.”
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But Suarez believes the legendary forward will stay at the Nou Camp if the vote of no conficedence in Bartomeu is passed, leading to a new president taking over.
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
