Barcelona Agree to Sell Suarez to Atletico Madrid

Barcelona have agreed to let striker Luis Suarez join La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid.

Suarez was not wanted in Barca, and the Catalans were able to release him free of charge, given he did not join any other top clubs, BBC reports. 

The Uruguayan negotiated terms on a reduced wage with Atletico after transferring to Juventus because of passport problems.

Barcelona Chairman Josep Maria Bartomeu then blocked the offer because he did not want to sell to a Spanish competitor.

But, after speaking with Suarez's leaders, the Catalan club backed down, threatening the striker to give his complaints to the media.

Atletico will have to pay a nominal fee of no more than EUR 4 million for the 33-year-old, depending on factors such as the Champions League qualification.

Suarez is going to gain half of the EUR 30 m a year he invested at Barca in Atletico.

The transfer ends Suarez's six-year career with Barca, in which he scored 198 goals in 283 appearances and made up one-third of the feared front three with Lionel Messi and Neymar.

He joined the club for £74 m from Liverpool in 2014 and helped them win four La Liga cups, four Copa del Reys and the 2015 Champions League and Club World Cup.

It also ends one of the long-running transfer sagas this summer, which seemed likely to lead the player to end up in Turin-a move that, according to the directors of Juventus, had been dashed because of the time it would take to obtain Suarez's Italian passport.