Barca abort player’s Atletico move

Luis Suarez’s may have cheated in his Italian citizenship process, according to an investigation by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza and the Perugia Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The investigation revealed that the Barcelona and Uruguay striker had advance knowledge of the questions in the Italian language exam he took in Perugia as part of his mission to achieve Italian citizenship ahead of a desired move to Juventus.

Suarez is from Uruguay but has Italian ancestors. If he can obtain Italian citizenship, he wouldn’t have to occupy a non-EU spot with a new club, and Turin-based Juventus have already filled their quota.

According to the investigators, it’s university chiefs that are the subject of the probe rather than the 33-year-old forward himself.

Perugia is one of only four universities allowed to release the certification to foreigners wishing to obtain citizenship.
Repubblica carried quotes from an official on Monday, who said: ‘He does not speak a word of Italian. He does not conjugate verbs, he only speaks using the infinitive. If journalists would ask him some questions, he’d be lost. He earns €10million a year, he needs to pass this exam.’

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Meanwhile, Barcelona say they do not want Luis Suarez to join Atletico Madrid on a free transfer this summer.

According to Onda Cero’s ‘El Transistor’ programme, Barcelona don’t want Suarez to go fellow title challengers Atletico.

They made a list of vetoed landing spots for the striker in the event of rescinding his contract and Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City featured on this list, but Atletico Madrid reportedly did not.

Yet Barcelona have now changed their mind.

If his Atletico move falls through, Suarez is considering staying at Barcelona, despite Ronald Koeman wanting to get rid of him in this window.