Arsene Wenger says Arsenal had an agreement in place with Luis Suarez to join their club in 2013.

Arsenal launched a £40 million-plus-one-pound bid for Suarez to trigger his release clause with Liverpool.

Liverpool refused to sell Suarez at the time and sold him to Barcelona for £75 million a season later.

"It was very close, we had an agreement with the player," Wenger said. "We had been wrongly advised that he had a clause, you know, with a minimum [price]. But we had an agreement with the player. You can ask him.

"I'm convinced that he wanted to join us. And then they kept him for one more year, they improved his contract and promised to sell him a year later to a club abroad."