Real Madrid Prepare £70m Bid for Liverpool Striker Luis Suarez

Real Madrid have revived their interest in Liverpool ace Luis Suarez, with Los Blancos said to be readying a £70m bid for the Uruguay international this summer according to the Liverpool Echo.

The Spanish outfit was rumored to have been interested in the player last summer, but a move for Tottenham Hotspurs winger Gareth Bale was favored. Suarez helped Liverpool to the second spot in a nail-biting and dramatic end to the Premier League season.

However, the striker - who was signed for £22m from Ajax in 2011 - pushed for a move away from Anfield last summer. This encouraged Arsenal to table a bid of £40m plus £1 with the hope that it was enough to trigger a Champions League club release clause in his contract.

Fortunately for Liverpool, they rebuffed Arsenal’s advances for their most prized asset and Suarez went on to have a fantastic season for the Kop, scoring an impressive 31 goals in 33 league games despite missing the first six matches of the Premier League season due to a match ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.

The 27-year-old Uruguay international signed a new four-and-a-half year contract in December, making him the highest paid Liverpool player in history, but denied that a clause allows him to join Real Madrid or Barcelona this summer. His consistent display won him the Barclays Player of the Season, the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year, and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year.

However, for Madrid’s plan to come to fruition, they will have to rely on Arsenal’s rumored interest in French striker Karim Benzema. The Real Madrid striker commands a hefty £30m price-tag, and if the La Liga side can offload him, then it frees up enough cash to lodge a bid for Suarez, keeping in mind UEFA’s financial fair-play rule.

Benzema has just 12 months left on his contract, and Real Madrid must now decide if they will renew it, cash in this summer, or risk losing him to the Bosman rule next season. Benzema has formed an excellent partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale this season scoring, 22 goals in all competitions for Madrid.

La Liga reaches its climax this weekend with the last round of matches. Real Madrid painfully lost out in the title race when Celta Vigo gave a huge dent to their treble ambition with a surprising 2-0 victory. Carlo Ancelotti’s side had earlier won the Copa Del Rey at the expense of fierce rivals Barcelona, and was hoping to claim La Liga and the Champions league to complete the haul.

However, Los Blancos’ reported interest in Suarez could only mean that Florentino Perez is trying to improve the squad ahead of the challenges next season. Perez’s tradition of poaching the best talents around the world would be sustained if he is successful in bringing Suarez to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

It is also expected that Real Madrid are planning to overhaul the squad with the likes of Iker Casillas, Luka Modric and Pepe all set to leave. Also, contracts of players like Jesus Fernandez, Marcelo, Sami Khedira and Alvaro Morata end in 2015.