Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said that new boss Luis Enrique was very excited when he learned about the club’s plans to sign Luis Suarez.
The Catalan club confirmed on Friday that they had reached a deal with Liverpool and will sign a five year deal subject to a medical. The deal is thought to be worth around a staggering £70m.
Barca signed the forward despite being banned from all football activity for biting Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup and is expected to return around October.
However the controversy has not dampened the spirits of new boss Luis Enrique who said everyone at the Camp Nou was very excited about the Uruguayan’s signing.
Enrique told Sky Sports: “Suarez is one of the best strikers in the world and, at the end of last season, Andoni Zubizarreta, our sporting director, started to think we had to bring a striker to our club.
“Luis Suarez was on the table and our new coach Luis Enrique, when he signed, we quickly explained everything and he said ‘of course you can bring Luis Suarez to our club. Bring him – he’s a fantastic player.’
“It is incredible to join those three players [Suarez, Messi and Neymar] at the same club. It’s something fantastic and something unusual.
“It’s rare in the world of football to have three top players plus [Andres] Iniesta, plus [Sergio] Busquets, plus [Gerard] Pique, plus [Javier] Mascherano and the young ones that are coming – it’s incredible to have this team.”
By Phil Wellbrook
