Liverpool fine Suarez; insist he's not for sale

Liverpool have fined striker Luis Suarez for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic, but have insisted they will not sell him this summer.

The Uruguay international has requested the money be donated to the Hillsborough Family Support Group, which marked the 24th anniversary of the tragedy with a service at Anfield last Monday at which Suarez was present with his team-mates.

"For my unacceptable behaviour yesterday [Sunday] the club has fined me today [Monday]," the 26-year-old wrote on Twitter.

"I have asked the club to donate the money to the Hillsborough Family Support Group for the inconvenience I have created to the Liverpool fans and to Ivanovic."

But despite the fine, Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has insisted the club will not be tempted to sell the Uruguayan in the summer.

"It affects his future in the sense that we have to work with him on his discipline - but Luis is a very important player to the club," Ayre told liverpoolfc.com.

"As we keep saying, he signed a new four-year contract last summer and we'd all love to see him here throughout that contract.

"He's a fantastic player, top scorer and everything we'd want in a striker, so there's no change there.

"This is more about getting him back on the right track and it's largely down to (manager) Brendan (Rodgers) now to work with him on that side of his character."

After Sunday's match Rodgers said discussions about what action to take over Suarez would involve owners Fenway Sports Group.

Ayre confirmed they had taken place and FSG fully backed the decisions taken.
"With any incident like this, any major incident at the club, we're in direct dialogue with the owners, always," he added.

"I spoke to them last night [Sunday] and they were happy with the way we were handling the matter.

"I think the most important thing is that we acted swiftly yesterday [Sunday].
"Luis issued his apology and then we spoke with him last night and then again this morning [Monday]."

But Ayre stressed the issue would not end there with Rodgers, who has a close relationship with Suarez, determined to tackle the player's ill-discipline.

"We've taken action to fine Luis for his actions," he said.

"Brendan has spoken to him and I've spoken to him and Brendan will be working with him further on his discipline.

"We'll work with Luis - Brendan particularly - on this side of his character in his game.

"Hopefully that puts the matter to rest from our point of view and we'll wait and see if there's any further action from the football authorities.

"You can see when you speak to him how sorry he is about it and he's certainly shown quite a lot of contrition to us - and as part of that, he's also asked we donate the fine to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.

"I think he felt like he let a lot of people down yesterday [Sunday]."

Suarez will be offered anger management counselling after biting Chelsea defender Ivanovic, the Professional Footballers' Association have revealed.

Suarez on Sunday apologised for his "inexcusable behaviour" after the incident during the 2-2 draw at Anfield that has left the Uruguay international facing the prospect of a lengthy ban.

Merseyside Police have confirmed no action will be taken against him after officers from the Surrey force, on behalf of their north-west colleagues, attended Chelsea's Cobham training ground last night to speak to the Serbia international.
However, Ivanovic did not report any physical injury and told police he did not want to pursue the matter.

"Merseyside police can confirm that, following an incident at the Liverpool vs Chelsea game yesterday [Sunday], officers have spoken to Branislav Ivanovic," a statement from Merseyside Police read.

"He had no apparent physical injuries and did not wish to make a complaint. This is now a matter for the Football Association."

It is the latest in a series of unsavoury incidents in Suarez's career - including a previous biting incident in Holland and an eight-match ban for racist abuse - and PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said the players' union would offer the striker help to deal with his temper.

Taylor told Press Association Sport: "There is no doubting his football ability, that's why it is so disappointing and embarrassing when he lets himself down.

"We have to work hard on anger management now. We have trained counsellors in this field and we will be offering their services to Liverpool and the player to try to improve matters."

However, it seems more likely Liverpool would be more likely to chose to utilise the services of their own in-house sports psychologist Dr Steve Peters.

He has been working one day a week at the club's training Melwood training ground for most of the season, having enjoyed success most notably with Great Britain's Olympic gold medal-winning cyclists like Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.

Former Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy has also credited Peters with helping him change his behaviour for the better.