Liverpool Striker Luis Suarez Agreed Barcelona Move in November

Luis Suarez's reputation among Liverpool supporters has taken a substantial blow ahead of moving to Barcelona with the news that a deal to join the Catalan giants was agreed last November, Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez has revealed.

Suarez is understood to be on the brink of joining the La Liga giants for a fee between £70m and £80m, seven months after signing a new deal with the Reds last December.

The 27 year old scored 31 Premier League goals last season for Liverpool as the club narrowly missed out on winning the title, but news an agreement was reached to sign for Barca midway through the campaign will anger fans, many of whom have diligently defended his on-field behaviour.

Uruguay manager Tabarez told Montevideo-based radio station Sport 890: "Luis had told me about the Barcelona interest in November last year a few days before the Jordan match (20th November 2013).

"At that time the talks between Liverpool and Barcelona were very good and an agreement was arranged back then.

"After the amazing season he had Liverpool did not want to sell him understandably and they began to back out of the deal they made with Barcelona in November last year.

"Luis got word of this a day after the victory against England. He was a changed man, he got upset and his head was elsewhere.

"He could barely train with the rest of the team. I had to have him train with a different group from the main squad."

Suarez's Liverpool career has been dominated by scandal, having been handed substantial bans for racially abusing Patrice Evra and biting Branislav Ivanovic by The Football Association while the Uruguay forward has made public his attempts to move away from Anfield.

Though Liverpool have remained committed to Suarez throughout his controversial spell in English football, the revelation that an agreement to sell the player was reached in November suggests the club finally decided to cash in on the ex-Ajax man but only subject to him signing a contract containing an inflated release clause.

The account that Liverpool then attempted to cancel the deal mid-way through the World Cup after Suarez had enjoyed a stunning campaign and scored twice to knock England out of Brazil, will also be a source of embarrassment to the club, who were understood to be content with neogications.