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When discussing the potential sale of Luis Suarez during the striker's phenomenal 2013-2014 campaign, most assumed that his fee be greater than the amount paid for Gareth Bale last summer, and something closer to £100m. A lot of money, but between the form Suarez was in, these financial times in modern football, and the reality that Liverpool simply didn't have to sell, that type of money made about as much sense as paying that type of money to have a guy play a sport for you could.
In the past week it obviously emerged that Liverpool were willing to allow him to leave for much less, with their resolve reportedly weakened by the incident at this summer's World Cup. The club ended up accepting Barcelona's bid of £75m for the Uruguayan, and as the terms were being finalized, it emerged that Liverpool would be sharing part of that fee with Ajax.
The specter of Bournemouth once again loomed large, with expectations that Liverpool had to share a percentage somewhere in the range of 5-15%. Had that been the case, the final sum for Liverpool would have significantly lower, which in turn would have impacted the amount the club would be able to reinvest this summer.
Thankfully that's not the case, as it emerged tonight that Ajax will be receiving only a flat fee of £2m and nothing more; the Mirror reports that John Henry was integral in making sure that the Dutch club would not receive anything beyond the pre-determined fee, which means Liverpool will still have enough to pay for one full Ryan Bertrand, or almost half a Dejan Lovren. Good news, right?
