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"My priority is to stay here, but Porto is an excellent option if I leave Liverpool," midfielder Suso was reported as saying early in June. "I know there's negotiations. I will only renew with Liverpool if I'm guaranteed I'll play regularly. The option is clear if I don't renew: let me leave. I think Liverpool thinks the same. They won't let me leave on a free in a year if I don't renew. Let's see what happens."
Today, the Express, suggesting the player was "irked" by his Almeria loan last season, presented a portion of those quotes—the part about letting him leave—as though they came from a recent press conference or an interview they had done with the player. Either way, the implication was that they're new. And news. They weren't and aren't. They're fours month old and, rather obviously when seen in full, from when Porto were sniffing about.
One tired tabloid reheating, knowingly or not, a months-old story isn't entirely shocking or newsworthy in itself. The problem is when five or six or seven other print and online outlets take it on faith that the Express wouldn't be daft or deceitful enough to run four-month-old quotes as though they were new and news and so repeat them. It then starts to become a thing, separated from the tabloid that started it.
And then the story becomes that right here, right now, during this international break and while he's sat out injured, Suso is actively pushing, agitating, and speaking up to get a January move to AC Milan rather than waiting for the summer, which is something it's been rumoured he wants. There might even be some truth to it; it's possible he might be doing exactly that right now behind the scenes.
Having a player publicly come forward with a play me or let me go demand mid-season, though, is a good step or six beyond that. Suso's Liverpool future is tenuous at best, and the smart money is on him being elsewhere next season. But despite the Express cluelessly pushing old quotes out into the world as though they're breaking news, Suso isn't actively and publicly pushing for that move today.
