The Footballeaks site have revealed an amazingly ridiculous story – Liverpool have put a clause in Roberto Firmino’s contract to stop Arsenal from buying him!

As revealed in the Belgian paper le Soir via their journalist Kristof Terreur:

When Liverpool bought the attacking midfielder, they inserted a €98m release fee. Of course, this is an over-inflated price to scare any potential buyers, after all Barcelona puts €150m to €200m+ release clauses for the likes of Messi and Neymar.

If you think about the players that were sold for around €100m or more (Ronaldo, Bale and Pogba), two of them are world class and one of them is a top player, working hard towards making it as world class player.

Then you think Roberto who?

That guy cannot seriously be put in the same bracket as those three players.

Liverpool are certainly having a laugh, if they think they can sell that kind of player for €98m.

Available but not to Arsenal

Then comes the funniest part – he is for sale at €98m, but Arsenal are forbidden to bid for him.

What kind of joke is this?

Why would Arsenal try to buy an over-rated player, who has not shown any form near top class and even more world class level? And why would Liverpool want to stop them?

Then you remember the Suarez saga.

I still don’t understand why Arsenal wanted to sign a player found guilty of racism and who does not mind biting opponents on multiple occasions but Arsenal did bid the minimum amount written in Suarez contract ie £40,000,001. The Liverpool owner even admitted there was a release clause, that Arsenal had triggered it but that they just refused to honour it. Arsenal did NOTHING wrong while Liverpool did plenty, yet it is Arsenal who are seen as the ‘bad’ party in all of this.

It prompted the Liverpool owner John Henry to insult Arsenal but later admitted the release clause was existent and valid but that they just refused to honour it. Arsenal did NOTHING wrong while Liverpool did plenty, yet it is Arsenal who are seen as the ‘bad’ party in all of this.

It the end, we know what happened, Suarez stayed at Liverpool and left later to play for Barcelona.

So you can clearly see where that clause comes from, but you cannot really understand why they have done it?

The way they are doing things, I can see them put Nathaniel Clyne on a €150m release fee with the same no Arsenal sale clause next.