Barcelona asked me to beg Messi to stay - Suarez

Barcelona asked me to beg Messi to stay - Suarez

Atletico Madrid striker, Luis Suarez, has claimed Barcelona asked him to beg Argentine talisman, Lionel Messi, when he wanted to leave last summer.

However, Suarez is furious that former Barcelona president, Josep Bartomeu, did not have the boldness to speak to him when the club wanted him to leave.

He also accused manager Ronald Koeman of having "no personality".

Suarez left the Nou Camp last year to sign for Atletico, where he won the league title for the 2020/2021 season.

The 34-year-old told El Partidazo de COPE: "I'm never going to go against Barcelona, they have given me everything and allowed me to get to the elite, but obviously the president [Josep Maria Bartomeu] said everything in the press instead of calling me.

"The moment they wanted Leo [Messi] to stay they called me to use me to convince him, to talk to [Antoine] Griezmann...So why didn't they call me when they wanted me to leave?

"Or why did the coach not come and tell me that he does not count on me because he wants another type of striker?

"Koeman told me I wasn't in his plans, then he said: 'If we don't figure this out by tomorrow, you're back in my plans and I'm counting on you against Villarreal'.

"I saw then that the man had no personality. He was not strong enough to tell me I was not needed. The decision [to sell] came from the board."

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