Luis Suarez: Steven Gerrard Stopped Me Making 'Big Error' in Joining Arsenal

Barcelona forward Luis Suarez has revealed how Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard convinced him to reject a move to Arsenal in the summer of 2013.

The Gunners were heavily linked with a move for Suarez and submitted a £40m + £1 offer for the Uruguayan forward in an effort to activate his release clause.

Arsenal failed to complete the deal for Suarez, with the 27-year-old eventually joining Barcelona last summer for £65m.

Suarez has finally opened up on why the deal fell through, admitting that Gerrard told him to delay his departure from Liverpool by 12 months in order to secure a switch to the Spanish giants.

"It would have been a big error that I would have made had it not been for Steven Gerrard," Suarez said.

"We spoke about this when I went to Melwood to pick up my things at the end of the summer and he said: 'You did the right thing, you waited until the best moment.

"He had told me to play well for Liverpool, give it another year and it will be Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Barcelona coming for you and then you can go where you want, because you have the quality to play at any of those three clubs."

Suarez's delayed departure from Liverpool proved crucial for Brendan Rodgers' side as the forward finished as the Premier League's top scorer, thrusting the club back into the Champions League prior to moving to the Nou Camp.

For Arsenal, the tale is an all-too-familiar one and will undermine Arsene Wenger's claim that the club is an attractive option for big-name players.

Though Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck have all moved to the Emirates Stadium during the past 18 months, Arsenal have continued to miss out on a host of other deals which calls into question their image on the world stage.

Speaking in August 2013, Wenger said: "The Champions League is, of course, the needed requirement for the top players. The players say, 'OK, we want to join Arsenal, we want to play the kind of football you play, but as well, we want to play in the Champions League.'"

"It's unfortunately like that. Look, many players want to join us, because they know. And even more so, all the players who have been here want to come back here.

"It's not because they like my face! It's for the way we treat people and for the football we play - or try to play, because unfortunately we've not always managed to do it.

"But they find something here they want to know again when they go somewhere else and many, many, many players, believe me, ask me to come back."