Liverpool owner John Henry has admitted striker Luis Suarez had a £40m buy-out clause in his previous contract but that the club refused to sell to the bidder.
Arsenal bid a pound over £40m for the 27-year-old last summer, believing it would force the Reds into a sale.
Suarez has since signed a new four-and-a-half-year deal with the Anfield club and is currently the top-flight’s leading scorer with 24 goals, helping Liverpool to second in the Premier League.
A buy-out clause in a contract typically allows a player to leave a club if a stated minimum transfer value is met – but Liverpool insisted last summer that there was nothing in Suarez’s contract obliging them to sell the player.
The Uruguayan, who had called on the Reds to let him leave for a club playing in the Champions League, considered putting in a formal transfer request and taking legal action if the dispute was not resolved.
Of Liverpool and Suarez’s future prospects, Henry added: “What will happen at the end of year, I think we’re going to make Champions League and we have a small chance of winning the Premier League this year.
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