FORMER BARCELONA and Liverpool star Luis Suarez announced on Tuesday he has reached “a preliminary agreement” to return to his first club Nacional for three months ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
Striker Suarez, 35, left Atletico Madrid at the end of last season and is looking for a new club.
He is Uruguay’s all-time top goalscorer and set to compete at his fourth World Cup.
“First of all I would like to say thank you for the great affection shown to me and my family these last few days,” said Suarez in a video published on his social media accounts.
He said this had made it impossible “to reject the possibility of returning to play for Nacional and we have a preliminary agreement with the club.”
Nacional president Jose Fuentes thanked fans who had launched a massive social media campaign to try to convince Suarez to return.
“We still need to adjust some little details… (but) he will surely arrive next week,” said Fuentes.
Suarez began his career at Nacional, making his debut aged 18 in May 2005.
After one full season he moved to Groningen in the Netherlands and then on to Ajax a year later.
There he caught the eye of Liverpool and after three and a half seasons in England he moved to Barcelona for a fee worth more than 80 million euros.
He enjoyed his most successful spell in Catalonia, winning four Spanish league titles and the Champions League in 2015, while he won La Liga again with Atletico in 2021.
He earned notoriety at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when his last gasp illegal goalline clearance in the quarter-finals against Ghana prevented the Black Stars from becoming the first ever African nation to reach the last four of the tournament.
Suarez was sent off for deliberate handball but Uruguay survived the subsequent spot-kick and then progressed on penalties.
Four years later in Brazil he disgraced himself by biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, for which he received a record nine-match ban from world football governing body FIFA — it was the third time he had bitten an opposing player.
He is due to sign a three-month deal with Nacional to play in the Uruguayan Clausura competition while preparing for the World Cup in Qatar from February 21 to December 18.
“Details will be finalised in the next hours and we hope to reach the agreement we all desire and that we can all make the most of this new stage and see each other in the coming days,” added Suarez.
Agree with his comments in that regard but a bit rich coming from him as La Liga chief where Barca and Real carve up the TV rights with their own TV deals which dwarf the alms handed out to the rest. Could do with sorting his own shop too..
@alternativefacter: your right about the TV rights there has been slight improvement but still nowhere near enough in Spanish football
PSG and City just copying the financial doping model invented by the Spanish and Catalan governments.
@Stanley Baggins: that’s just plain ignorance. The Spanish government lost true control years ago over the sport . It wasn’t a plan it was just ineptitude . The Catalan government is a regional government and have nothing to do with it . Still you’ll get more likes cos people love to believe s#it€
He wasnt saying anything when Real were winning. How much debt has the goverment wiped clean for them?
@Kingshu: used to be the king, is the government at it now?
@Kingshu: he is the League President , he has two many enemies , the Spanish FA and UEFA/CL
@Dave O Keeffe: the King ??? Haha haha deluded ! That’s like saying it was Franco cos he was top dog in Europe .
The rest of the football world should seize & allow Real & Barca to dominate
Javier has made some excellent points.
It was okay when their lads were the biggest fish in the pond. I agree with him but its hypocritical on his part. The two he mentions can’t get within an ass’s roar of a final no matter how much they bend the rules.
@Hardly Normal: Wait
…at one point they were going to wind up Real Madrid. It would have taken the main Spanish banks down with them. State support???
@Tom McHugh: what point was that ? A date maybe ?
City’s record signing is £60 million, what is Barcelona’s or Real’s. And they apparently wanted this idiot to be chief executive of the Premier League.
@William Boland: city just buy buy buy and consistently price other teams out of signings. I think your forgetting PSG though. Remember the whole Neymar+Mbappe double transfer? That was beyond farcical
@William Boland: it’s not what they pay it’s who they pay it for ? Real and Barca also sell their players for often more than when signed , even Ronaldo’s fee for Juventus was technically more . Who do City sell for more than they paid for ??
@Limón Madrugada: in the last 5 years, who have City overpaid for? They got out of the race for Sanchez because they didn’t want to overpay for him, same as DeJong. You can say PSG City in no way created the market the way it is now.
@William Boland: I haven’t said they’ve overpaid for anyone . I’m saying if you spend 12 x50M that’s 600M whereas if you’re an extremely rich club like Real Madrid or Barca you spend 200M -300M because you’ve just sold Neymar , Ronaldo or even Morata for 70-100-250M , and you’ve picked up 100m for winning the CL .. or should I say 400M for winning it 4 times in 5 years . It’s the total spend that’s high not the price for the player .And how you generated the money to pay for him . Madrid generates 120M a year from Adidas alone . 120M from ticket sales . Barca even more . City don’t generate that income , but they can spend better than the best .
He’s right too..
But its ok for Barcelona and Real to buy La Liga every year
@Brysonpieters: Barca didn’t buy it this year . Nor last year . Madrid’s last League win included the European double and they made no significant additions to that years squad that made the difference . Madrid has spent its money recently on future players some of whom have just started to play a bit ( Vinicius Jr) or Rodrygo , yet to arrive . Their impact on Madrid’s league position is minimal