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REVEALED: Luis Suarez nearly joined Juventus (but Brendan Rodgers talked him out of it!)
FORMER Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has explained how he nearly joined Juventus in 2012, but was persuaded to stay at Anfield by Brendan Rodgers.
The Uruguay international now plies his trade for Barcelona after joining the Catalan giants in a £75million deal in the summer.
Suarez was an undoubted hit at the Reds and his 31 league goals last term, helped his former club come within a whisker of winning the title.
And the 27-year-old admitted Juventus once made an approach for him.
"The first talk I had with him was at Melwood, just before he would have been named manager," Suarez wrote in his new autobiography serialised by Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo.
Luis Suarez Player Profile
It wasn't a long talk, he wanted to talk with me because there was a possibility for me to go to Juve
"It wasn't a long talk, he wanted to talk with me because there was a possibility for me to go to Juventus.
"Brendan Rodgers called me [speaking] in Spanish and he told me to give him time.
"He told me that we had to manage the ball and to play an offensive game."
Suarez made his competitive debut for Barca, but couldn't help them slipping to a 3-1 defeat in El Clasico against Real Madrid.
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