Arsenal are refusing to increase their offer for Luis Suarez because the strikers advisers are adamant we’ve already triggered his release clause by offering £1 above £40m, according to reports.

We submitted the unusual £40,000,001 bid early last week and it was immediately rejected by Liverpool with Brendan Rodgers claiming it was nowhere near the players valuation.

However, with many expecting Arsenal go back in with an improved bid, there has been little movement in almost a week and the Mirror claim it’s because Suarez’s advisers are adamant we’ve trigger an automatic release clause in the players contract and feel he should now be free to leave if personal terms are agreed.

Arsenal have been made aware of this and are holding fire until the situation is cleared up, which could take weeks meaning the deal is likely to go right down to the wire.

Liverpool insist the clause merely means they have to inform Suarez that an offer of over £40m has been made and they are under no obligation to sell at that price. This seems like a strange clause to me. Why would anyone agree to a clause that simply meant the club had to inform you of an offer? It’s meaningless so I find it hard to believe Suarez or his agents would have agreed to it.

The Uruguayan’s agents have been consulting lawyers and believe they have a strong case but dragging it through a Premier League arbitration hearing is likely to delay any potential move considerably. With Arsenal refusing to increase their offer, the only other course of action is for Suarez to hand in a formal transfer request making it virtually impossible for Liverpool to keep hold of him, but there is no indication yet that he’s willing to go down this road as he’ll relinquish loyalty bonuses.

The Mirror claim the striker still harbours hope of Real Madrid entering the chase but with the Spaniards fully-focussed on signing Gareth Bale, he’s aware that he’s a fall-back option for them and is therefore keen to pursue a move to the Emirates.

It all looks set to be a messy affair that’s likely to drag right until the end of the transfer window. With Suarez not available for the first six league games anyway, it seems Liverpool are in no rush to get things resolved any time soon.

Ideally for us, we’d have him on board asap as we’ve got Champions League qualifiers to worry about but I think we should accept that this deal is one that’s likely to take weeks to finalise.

Let’s hope the club know what they’re doing….

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Do you think Suarez will end up moving to Arsenal? Or will we miss out?