Ronald Koeman says Luis Suarez could have stayed at Barcelona to prove him wrong instead of moving to Atletico Madrid.
Rather than take the easy route out, Ronald Koeman insists Suarez had the chance to prove him wrong at Barcelona.
The Uruguayan attacker was deemed surplus to requirements after a disappointing campaign for the Catalan side last term.
He eventually joined Diego Simeone’s team after seeing a move to Juventus fall through.
Suarez had spent a successful six-year spell at Camp Nou where he won the Champions League along with four La Liga titles among other trophies.
He managed to net 21 times in 36 appearances in all competitions in his final season at the club.
Suarez has already seen a bright start to his Atleti career as he scored two and set up another in his debut appearance.
Koeman says he was happy with the former Ajax and Liverpool star and maintains he did not have to leave if he did not want to.
“In the case of Suarez, it had become very difficult for him to start playing and I made that known to him. He found it difficult, but I never had any trouble with him at all,” Koeman told NOS.
“He trained normally, trained well. He finally made the choice to leave and I said: ‘If you don’t leave, for whatever reason, then you are just one of the group, then you can prove that I was wrong’. He could have stayed, yes.
“I’m good with Luis, but the club felt that we had to rejuvenate. You can see that now in the team. Ansu Fati plays, he is 17 years old. We have Pedri, 17 years old, who gets his chances.
“Ronald Araujo is there at the age of 21. Trincao falls in a lot and is 20 years old, and we have taken Sergino Dest, who is 19. Those are all players for the future.”
It won’t be long before we will see a response from Luis Suarez himself regarding the above comments no doubt.
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