John Barnes urges Liverpool to sell Luis Suarez

JOHN Barnes has told the Anfield big-wigs to bite the bullet and sell Luis Suarez

John Barnes has said flog Luis Suarez now

The Liverpool legend – a title winner with the Reds in 1988 and 1990 – reckons the Uruguayan has become more liability than match-winner since he made it clear he wants out.

And Barnes has laid it on the line to Liverpool owner John Henry, telling the American to cash in on the striker.

Barnes said: “If Suarez wants to go then you can’t keep him.

“If he’s not going to perform and if he’s going to be disruptive, then what is the point in having him around?

“I like Suarez as a player. But I like Liverpool Football Club more.

“And what’s more important for Liverpool – the club or the player?

“In the past great men have moved on – Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush – and the club continued.

“If someone like Dalglish wanted to go, the fans would not have backed Kenny. They would have said, ‘Get out of our club because the club is more important than you’.

“In modern-day football the club always must come first. Barcelona is the perfect example of this.

“Even if you are Lionel Messi, the best player in the world, you have a respect, a humility to the club, to the fans, to the Catalan history.

“But the demands of those fans placed on Messi to respect their club, is something we don’t have in England.

“In this country we back players over clubs which makes egos go bigger and, as a result, players are more powerful. The Premier League breeds that kind of greedy, self-centred person.

“That could never happen at Barcelona, or Real Madrid, or Bayern Munich. You have to have that integrity, that respect, that humility. But in the Premier League we don’t have any of that.”

Barnes’ fellow former Liverpool great Graham Souness also believes Suarez, 26, is at the point of no return at the club.

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“If he’s not going to perform and if he’s going to be disruptive, then what is the point in having him around?”

Barnes

And he says the dresssing room will soon turn against him if he continues to whine.

Souness, who also managed the Reds, joined former players Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp in hoping he will stay – but doubts he will.

He said: “He is an undoubted talent but he has quickly put himself in a position where there is a point of no return.

“It would be good for Liverpool if he were to remain and play for them but the closer it gets to the deadline, it becomes more ­difficult for Liverpool to take any offer for him.

“If they then try to go out and spend the money they could get for him, there would be a large premium to be paid.

“Take his goals out of Liverpool last season, where would they finish?

“Right now he might be worth £50million and next season he might be worth £25m but you could be a season without his goals.

“It’s a nightmare scenario. He, along with Steven Gerrard, are the two best players Liverpool have.

“If he is to stay at Liverpool, they have to make their peace very quickly.

“Some supporters won’t accept it and if I was a player in the dressing room, I’d be saying if you don’t try harder, then I’ll have a falling out with you.

“It can affect morale because he is a goal-getter.”

Carragher, now retired after a hugely successful Liverpool career, said: “When you see what the chairman has said, it has made it very difficult for Luis to make the move he wants to make.

“It has put him in an awkward position but there is always a way back. He is still a Liverpool player and can prove it on the pitch.

“He could apologise for the comments he’s made but if he comes back and performs like he has done over the last two and-a-half years, he’d be welcomed back with open arms by the supporters.

“He got a great reaction at Steven Gerrard’s testimonial and at the open training session, although when I trained for that match he didn’t look the same Suarez.

“I am sure that if he keeps on ­banging in the goals for Liverpool, then he will be fine. You have to look at what is the best thing for Liverpool and that’s that he stays and plays well.”

Redknapp, a former Liverpool skipper and now, like Souness and Carragher, a TV pundit, said: “You need your senior players to speak to Luis and say, ‘You must train well’ because there are rumours that he is not training to the level he can.

“It should not happen at a club like Liverpool and I wish they could sell him and sign someone else.”

Barnes, meanwhile, SDHpreckons it will take Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers at least FIVE years before he can make Liverpool title contenders again.

The once-great power is struggling to hang on to the coat-tails of Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

And Barnes said: “When people talk about Liverpool being a top-four club, what they mean is they may finish fourth.

“They’re too far behind for it to be a quick fix. Brendan Rodgers needs a four or five-year plan to let him get the building blocks in place to be up there.

“Rodgers is a very good manager but it’s difficult for him to compete. He may want to bring young players through but Man City can buy the best in the world. So it’s going to be difficult for Liverpool.”

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