LONDON: The transfer of Luis Suarez from Liverpool to Barcelona appears to be only a matter of time.

The Catalan club are believed to opened negotiations with a cash offer of £72m which they are prepared to raise to £80m for the Uruguay striker who must miss the first months of next season.

Suarez, banned last week from all football for four months, has been agitating for a move away from Anfield for more than a year – though the looming prospect of the World Cup spurred him on last season to a top-scoring 31 goals in the Premier League.

Liverpool are believed to want Alexis Sanchez as a make-weight in the deal though there is no indication that the Chilean wishes to leave Spain.

Representatives of both clubs met in London yesterday with the Anfield club represented by chief executive Ian Ayre and Barcelona by directors Raúl Sanllehí, Toni Rossich and Jordi Mestre.

Claudio Sulser, FIFA’s disciplinary committee chairman, said in Riode Janeiro today that the worldwide suspension of Suarez for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini would not preclude his attending club premises for a medical review connected with a transfer

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