REVEALED: No £40m release clause in Luis Suarez's contract

Details emerged on Wednesday night of the events that have led to the public dispute between Suarez and Liverpool, it appears to amount to a spectacular cock-up as something really has been lost in translation.

Suarez thinks there is a clause in the contract he signed last summer enabling him to leave should Liverpool receive an offer of more than £40million. But he is wrong.

And so, for that matter, are his agent Pere Guardiola and the Spanish lawyer currently trying to engineer a transfer to a Champions League club for their unhappy, now isolated, client.

The detail in Suarez’s contract, a form of words that sparked a heated debate between the two camps was revealed at a meeting in London on Monday.

With officials from the Professional Footballers’ Association there as mediators, it was hoped some resolution could be found.

Suarez, Guardiola and his lawyer believe they have a legally binding clause. Liverpool do not and nor do the PFA or the Premier League. Essentially what it says is this: if Liverpool do not qualify for the Champions League or if Liverpool receive a bid of more than £40m, the club will sit down ‘in good faith’ and discuss it.

It is not even remotely close to a trigger clause that would enable the Uruguayan to leave. As one insider said on Wednesday night, the Suarez camp ‘dropped the ball when it came to the phrasing of that sentence in the contract. It is so heavily caveated it amounts to nothing. Legally it is worthless.’

Suarez turned his sights on Brendan Rodgers and claimed the manager made a verbal promise to let him go should they finish outside the top four last season.

If the relationship between the two parties was fractured on Monday night, it had completely disintegrated by Wednesday, with Suarez told to train alone and men like Gordon Taylor, the PFA chairman, clearly wondering how on earth the situation can now be resolved.

There are two possible outcomes, say insiders. If they can get the two parties back around the table. Liverpool might swallow deeply and agree to sell at £50m. Arsenal were badly advised in being led to believe their £40m-plus-a-pound offer would automatically secure Suarez’s services. It remains to be seen if they will increase their offer now they know that interpretation is flawed.

If Liverpool refuse to be browbeaten into a sale, it could be that they agree to let Suarez leave for £40million a year from now, with a new clause inserted into his contract that is unequivocal.

After much provocation, getting Liverpool to sit down might be the difficulty. The club certainly are in no mood to see their best player leave just yet.

Liverpool now have the bargaining power, either keep a want-away player or sell him!