Atletico Madrid announced the signing of Barcelona forward Luis
Suarez late on Wednesday, confirming the Uruguayan striker is set to continue
playing in La Liga rather than joining Juventus in Italy.
Barcelona
said that Atletico had agreed to pay six million euros for Suarez, who left his
last training session in tears on Wednesday having been told over the summer
that he was no longer required by new coach Ronald Koeman.
Since joining
Barca from Liverpool in 2014, Suarez has won a host of trophies, including the
2015 Champions League and four Liga titles.
He leaves as
the club's third highest scorer with 198 goals behind Cesar Rodriguez (232) and
Lionel Messi (634).
The move to
Barcelona's La Liga rivals follows a failed attempt to join Juventus.
Juve coach
Andrea Pirlo disclosed last week a deal was unlikely because of delays in the
Uruguayan's bid to get an Italian passport.
On Tuesday,
prosecutors in Perugia said they suspected Suarez of cheating to pass his
Italian language test with the aid of examiners suspected of helping him.
The exit of
the 33-year-old from Camp Nou comes as Koeman attempts to reshape Barcelona.
As well as
Suarez, the Dutchman has shown the exit to Arturo Vidal and Ivan Rakitic, while
French defender Samuel Umtiti is also set to leave.
Spanish
television channel Gol showed Suarez wiping away tears with his sleeve as he
drove off after saying his last goodbyes to teammates at Barcelona's Sant Joan
Despi training centre.
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