Luisito

MJGunner wrote:
Arsenal had the legal right to speak to Suarez and sign him if he agreed but Liverpool just blocked the move and 'gambled' on Arsenal not taking them to court.

But with his new contract, the old clause is obsolete.

The bolded section is the wording of an Arsenal twitter feed, the quotes that are being reported don't include anything about Arsenal taking Liverpool to court and I would be absolutely shocked to hear that the full answer made a reference. That's because Arsenal has almost no recourse here, they never would've been able to take Liverpool to court regardless, and I'm sure Henry knows that. As they weren't a party to the contract, the only thing they could do is sue for damages, which would be fairly difficult to quantify in a court of law. The only person that could really take action here is Luis, and he chose not to over the summer (you'll remember, following the advice of the PFA after they reviewed the contract).

Anyway, I work with contract law 70 hours a week, so I'm going to address this once and then try to move on - everybody read and pay close attention, I don't want to have to repeat myself. Two disclaimers: (a) my understanding and experience is that UK and US contract law are incredibly similar, but any minor differences which impact this post are probably beyond my knowledge, feel free to correct me where necessary; and (b) without actually being able to review the contract, we can only try to infer the details from the facts we do know, which are as follows:

1. Per Henry's quote, there was some form of 40m release clause in Suarez's contract.
2. Arsenal bid 40m+1.
3. Liverpool did not grant Arsenal the right to negotiate with Suarez.
4. The PFA, a body dedicated to ensuring that the contracts of players are fairly written and enforced, advised Suarez not to pursue legal action.
5. Suarez did not pursue legal action.

Most contracts in any field, but particularly those in football, include a form of confidentiality clause which would make it a breach of contract for the employee to disclose the terms. In event of a breach of contract, the offending party loses their legal protections and rights to recourse under the contract. If this happens and the employee attempts to enforce the contract through litigation, whether there was an initial breach by the employee would be subject to the review of a judge, so there's some wiggle room on both sides - everybody needs to estimate whether their case would be strong enough for court and weigh that chance against the cost.

The complication here is that the MO in European football is to treat contracts with somewhat less respect than typically afforded them in other spheres. Despite managers mentioning players in interviews, more leaks during transfer season than the Titanic, and agents openly referencing (and sometimes inventing) teams' interest, how often do you hear about tapping up restrictions actually being enforced? The very nature of the transfer market regularly leads teams to violate contract terms.

So Arsenal operated the way the market typically operates - they, most likely through Guardiola, learned the terms of the release clause, and bid enough to activate it. Their one mistake is that the precise nature of their bid provided clear evidence of a breach of contract on Suarez's part - someone in his camp provided a competitor with confidential terms. Arsenal's approach was just the way everyone operates.

Well there's one problem - it's been reported both that one of the major motivating factors in FSG entering the Premier League was the FFP proposals, and also that John Henry has been disappointed in the results of those measures. European football is set up in an anti-competitive system, and Henry saw FFP as a step towards changing that. To put it lightly, this hasn't happened.

So this time, when the result was going to be losing his top player before a pivotal season, Henry saw he had a legal right (due to Suarez's breach of contract) to stand his ground and took advantage of it. This decision has a number of cons - by not following the unwritten rules of the market and accepting the bid, Henry potentially hurt business relationships with both a) Arsenal and b) Suarez, who both would have been aware of Liverpool's decision and the underpinning argument months ago. What we can be certain is not a con is the risk of legal action from Suarez - it'd be tough to find a judge that would rule in his favor, and you can be sure that both FSG's and Suarez's legal teams knew that and said as much.

So now we ask why John Henry chose to disclose this information, which could spread the damage to relationships with other clubs (who now will think Liverpool aren't playing by the unspoken rules) and other players, both in our own dressing room and with other teams (who now will think Liverpool might not respect their wishes if they want to move).

Well, the timing of the statements answers that - Suarez has reupped and seems genuinely happy in Liverpool, so it's doubtful other players in the LFC dressing room are going to be too upset by this (if they hadn't known already). Additionally, Henry probably WANTS the other teams to know Liverpool isn't playing by the rules - if you don't respect the contracts we have with our players, we will not do business with you. It's a shot across the bow before this transfer season that we will only sell when we want to, unless we have absolutely no other legal options.

Additionally, it sends a message to FIFA and UEFA from one of their owners that the system needs to be fixed. It's possible this one statement doesn't do anything, but the location he gave the quotes is fairly aggressive. The Sloan Conference is an academic conference which is attended by many of the top minds in American sports - GMs, owners, reporters, media executives, and so on. Bringing up these issues in this forum could scare off potential American investment, both in the form of media (new fans) and capital (new owners).

In summary, John Henry's statements will send a message both to competitors and the overseeing body, without having a negative impact on the morale of players or the legal situation in question. Seems like a fairly shrewd move.

And no, neither Arsenal or Suarez will be able to do anything about this.

Additionally, Henry probably WANTS the other teams to know Liverpool isn't playing by the rules - if you don't respect the contracts we have with our players, we will not do business with you. It's a shot across the bow before this transfer season that we will only sell when we want to, unless we have absolutely no other legal options.

But Taylor, whose organisation has been in touch with both player and club in an attempt to resolve the dispute, says that Liverpool have only agreed to negotiate with any club making a bid of more than £40 million.

He told the Press Association: "If you are going to have a supposed buy-out clause, it should be that - but it is different as it says [that] if there is no qualification for the Champions League and if there is a minimum offer of £40 million, then the parties will get around the table to discuss things. But it does not say the club has to sell.

"It quite clearly states £40 million is a minimum offer for discussions, but it becomes really difficult with such clauses. There is a 'good faith' clause in relation to serious discussions but I can’t say it is a cast-iron buy-out clause.

"Luis is one of our members and we want to be supportive. However, he may well have thought such an offer would trigger a move."

Red Alert wrote:He has the better record too if he does it in the next 2 games.  

A - Norwich (4)

The fact that he's got 24 goals with no penalties is actually amazing.

Red Alert wrote:The best individual ever season in the PL came from Thierry Henry when he had 24 goals and 23 assists. (47 score involvements)

Luis Suarez currently has 24 goals and 10 assists with 10 games to go. (34 score involvements)

"I think I'm more an angel than a demon. It's very difficult to have that image. I avoid giving interviews because I'm shy. I pay attention to what I say," Suarez told TF1.