Barcelona deny any teething problems with Luis Suarez contract

A “no-biting” clause is not part of the Uruguay striker’s contract with Barcelona, the club president says.

Luis Suarez, right, has bitten three players on the pitch, including Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, but Barcelona do not fear a repeat. Andrew Yates / AFP

A “no-biting” clause is not part of Luis Suarez’s contract with Barcelona, nor did the Catalans reconsider buying him from Liverpool after the Uruguayan forward’s latest indiscretion, the president of the club said yesterday.

When asked about a biting clause, Josep Maria Bartomeu told CNN World Sport: “No, there is no clause. If the clause did exist we wouldn’t say it, but it doesn’t ­exist.”

Bartomeu also said that Suarez’s aggressive behaviour in the World Cup group match against Italy, which saw the player receive a four-month ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini, had not given him cause to second guess the signing

“No, no,” he said. “We didn’t rethink this decision and we told Luis after the bite. He knows he did wrong. He apologised. That’s very important for us. That means he knows that he did not do things properly.

“Of course, coming to our city, coming to our club, there’s going to be a way of managing Luis Suarez, because at Liverpool he was a perfect player. Liverpool fans can tell it, supporters can tell it.”

Asked if Barcelona would recommend Suarez receive psychological counselling, Bartomeu said: “Well, this is something that we cannot talk, but we are.

“We have a very good relationship with Liverpool club and we know what Liverpool did.

“We talked with our technical people and, well, from these conversations, from this good relationship we have with Liverpool, of course we are going to act.”

As to whether he thought Suarez might bite a player again, the president said: “This is a question for him. This is a question for him. We are very confident. He has to know, to see that a club is giving an opportunity to him and that’s very important for us.”

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