Steven Gerrard: Luis Suarez is too good for Arsenal

Steven Gerrard told Luis Suarez that he was “too good” for Arsenal last summer after the Gunners attempted to sign the striker from Liverpool.

The north London club had a big-money bid for the controversial forward turned down by the Merseysiders before he went on to score 31 goals in 33 Premier League games for the Reds last term.

With all due respect to them, I said to him that he was too good for Arsenal

Steven Gerrard

And the Liverpool captain has revealed how he urged the 27-year-old, who joined Barcelona this month, to stay at Anfield for the 2013-14 campaign.

Gerrard told the Daily Mirror: “Last summer, when he was out in the cold and training on his own, that’s the conversation I had with him. I said, ‘Don’t go to Arsenal.’ With all due respect to them, I said to him that he was too good for Arsenal.

“I said, ‘If you score 30 goals for us and win the PFA player of the year, the press player of the year’ – and believe it or not I knew he was going to win them – ‘they will come back for you.’

“You know what I think of him, I love him to bits and I’m his number one fan as a player. I spoke to him before he went, and he was so thankful to the club for all the times they stuck by him.”