JazzG We would have paid if it was just a matter of millions; we splashed even more on Özil. The extra pound story is just a media and PR narrative. It was a bid to be allowed to talk to Suarez officially. Liverpool would never have sold to us regardless of whether we had offered 45 or even 50 million in the first bid because they knew it would be a sliding doors moment, which is exactly why they wouldn't sell us Alonso too. Players back then rarely moved between top Premier League clubs to be fair so I'm not sure why we put all of our eggs in those baskets. We should have known better.
In Suarez's case though Liverpool kept insisting that the release clause wasn't a release clause, and in the end Suarez folded because he figured he could probably get a move to a bigger club than Arsenal anyway eventually. It's the same thing Sporting did this summer with Gyökeres basically. It was in writing and everything but the clubs know that the players can't spend 8-10 months of a career on the sidelines while they're waiting for a court decision.
What did us in that season is that we didn't get another striker when we realised Suarez wouldn't move. It's the same mistake Arsenal made last summer for what it's worth, and then again in January, so I'm not sure there's a discernible difference. The difference is down to Berta basically, and we could have used him back in 13/14 too: he wouldn't have settled for not getting anyone at all. You need people besides the manager who'll push the board on these things, and we didn't have that at any point between David Dein's departure and Berta's arrival.
