Suarez: Torres told me to join Liverpool

(AP)

Liverpool's luis Suarez has said that Fernando Torres convinced him to move to Anfield when they talked during the febrile few days of last January in which the Spaniard drove through his move to Chelsea.

Suarez said that he felt "intimidated" after concluding his £22.8m move to Anfield. "There are so many people watching you. You feel the pressure of what the club has paid for you, but I tried to live as calmly as I could, not to think about the people watching me," he told Spanish magazine Don Balon.

But Torres, who was about to head out of Anfield, appears to have had some contribution to Suarez's rapid acclimatisation, even though he was the striker the Uruguayan initially thought he would be partnering. "He told me to be the same player I always was, not to try to change, that Liverpool were a great team and that they would help me to grow a lot. The truth is that his advice was a great help and he was not wrong; he was exactly right."

Suarez has expressed some desire ultimately to play for Barcelona, where he owns a house and where his daughter was born. His agent is now Pep Guardiola's brother, Pere. "Before knowing Pere... I had that dream of having the chance to play for Barcelona," Suarez said.

"Obviously he is connected to Barcelona through his brother," he continued, "but these are work issues, totally different to personal ones. If [Pep] Guardiola wants me, he will want me totally independently of who represents me."

Both Suarez, who made an instant impact following his January move from Ajax, and last season's Liverpool player of the season, Lucas Leiva, look likely to be involved in the Copa America tournament until late July.