http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/20/luis-suarez-signs-long-term-liverpool-deal
" Liverpool have produced a major coup by securing Luis Suárez on a long-term contract that completes his transformation from outcast to the highest-paid player in the club's history inside four months.
The outstanding striker signed an improved four-and-a-half year deal on Friday following swift negotiations between the Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre and Suárez's agent, Pere Guardiola, in Barcelona earlier this week.
Suárez's reward for committing himself to Anfield until 2018 is believed to be a pay increase from £120,000-a-week to £200,000-a-week.
Liverpool moved swiftly to secure Suárez's services with the striker in stunning form, his club able to go top of the Premier League with victory over Cardiff City on Saturday and with the manager Brendan Rodgers insisting the player was at the "happiest point" of his professional career.
There was also a desire on both sides to avoid a repeat of last summer's transfer saga, when confusion over the terms of Suárez's previous contract – which still had two and a half years remaining – led the striker to believe he could leave for a Champions League club that offered over £40m for his services.
The Uruguay international agitated for a move to Arsenal and was forced to train away from the first-team squad, having accused Rodgers of breaking promises over his future.
Four months on and Suárez's standing has been transformed. The striker, who has scored 17 goals in 11 appearances this season, said: "I am delighted to have agreed a new deal with Liverpool and have my future secured for the long term.
"We have some great players....."
They turned down 40 million quid (might even have been 45 million), and fair play to them for doing so. And now that he's performing magnificently, they've managed to commit him to a new contract as well. This was apparently utterly impossible in Bale's case. Could never have happened. Shouldn't have even tried, because he wanted to go so badly, right? So badly he....didn't make anything public until the final days of the window, as opposed to Suarez moaning, begging to leave and accusing the club of betraying him. And yet, a few months on, here we are: Suarez is banging in goals for fun at a resurgent, revitalized Liverpool while we shuffle along like a bunch of impotents with all our dopey players slowly repeating 'sorry' and 'feel guilty' after every inevitable setback we encounter as we struggle to get 'the Beatles' (more like Insane Clown Posse) to perform with any degree of cohesion or even footballing ability.
Today's news is making it very, very hard for me to avoid thinking we caved and again became a good little feeder club over the summer, and that our current form is us paying the price for that lack of ambition. Sigh. Don't tell me about the difference in transfer fees, we had a 30-goals-a-season player on our hands and now we have...? No manager, seven rather dopey lads who are in various states of acclimatization, and a stench of disappointment with the way this 'revolutionary' campaign has turned out so far. Was that worth the 85 million? Like hell it was.