Barcelona offloads Suarez to Atletico

MADRID－Luis Suarez is staying in Spain after all.

Barcelona said late on Wednesday that it reached a deal with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of the Uruguay striker for 6 million euros ($7 million).

Suarez was released by Barca following six mostly successful seasons during which he won 13 titles with the Catalan club. He leaves as Barcelona's third-highest scorer ever with 198 goals, behind Cesar Rodriguez (232) and Lionel Messi (634).

The 33-year-old Suarez had to find a new club after being told by new Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman that he was not in his plans. Koeman was asked to revamp the Barcelona squad after the embarrassing 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals in August. Midfielder Ivan Rakitic left for Sevilla after also being told he wasn't wanted anymore, and defender Samuel Umtiti is also expected to depart.

Superstar Messi, Suarez's longtime friend and teammate, had a transfer request denied by the club and will remain at Camp Nou, at least for this season.

Barcelona said it wanted to publicly express its "gratitude to Luis Suarez for his commitment and dedication," and wished him "all the best for the future".

Suarez reportedly bid farewell to his teammates on Wednesday.

Spanish media said Barcelona had initially made an agreement with Suarez to allow him to leave for free, but later backtracked after it became known that he wanted to go to rival Atletico. Suarez's lawyers had been negotiating with the Catalan club since Tuesday to try to make his move to Atletico possible.

Suarez, who arrived at Barca from Liverpool in 2014, will be working under Atletico's Argentine coach Diego Simeone, who has frequently praised his new player's hard-working, never-say-die attitude.

Suarez initially looked set to join Juventus, but Juve coach Andrea Pirlo said last week a deal was unlikely because of delays in acquiring the player an Italian passport. On Tuesday, prosecutors in Perugia said they suspected Suarez of cheating to pass his Italian language test.

Instead, Juventus has signed Atletico's Alvaro Morata in a loan deal that gives the Turin giant the option to sign him permanently next year.

Simeone still has Diego Costa and Joao Felix as his main attackers, but the duo only scored 14 goals combined last season, seven fewer than Suarez scored for Barcelona.

The Catalan club had already added young Portugal forward Francisco Trincao this season. It still has Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and youngster Ansu Fati, who on Wednesday was officially added to the first team and had his buyout clause increased from 170 million euros ($199 million) to 400 million euros ($469 million).

Danish international Martin Braithwaite is also an option for Koeman up front. Barca is reportedly keen on acquiring former Manchester United flop and Netherlands international Memphis Depay from Lyon and Argentine ace Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan.

Atletico will kick off its La Liga campaign on Sunday at home to Granada. Atletico's first two games were postponed because it played late into last season, reaching the Champions League quarterfinals.

Associated Press