Barca up to their old tricks amid Suarez rumours
It was supposed to be a media conference to present new signing Ivan Rakitic.
Instead, it became a platform for Barcelona to woo the newest apple in their eye - Luis Suarez.
The infamous Uruguay striker recently apologised for biting Italy defender GIorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, seemingly a u-turn after he claimed he had fallen on his opponent.
But reports have since claimed that Suarez, who has been banned from football for four months, made the apology to pave a way for a big-money transfer to Barcelona.
The Catalonian club did little to dispel the talk as sporting director Andoni Zubizaretta fanned the flames saying: "Suarez has had the character and the humility to acknowledge his mistake. That is important.
"That's the starting point for a person's recovery process.
"Luis Suarez is an excellent player and everyone knows it. But everyone also knows that he is a Liverpool player."
Joining in
Even Rakitic, who was officially presented as a Barca player after returning to Europe from World Cup duty with Croatia, spent little time before joining in the Barcelona wooing game.
The Croatian schemer said: "The fact he has had the character and the strength to go in front of everyone and say sorry says a lot about him as a person.
"Not every person has that strength to admit they have done something stupid. I rarely say that I am wrong so this says a lot about him, he has shown the character and strength he has so he should be commended for that.
"Regardless of whether the club signs him or not, his quality is unquestionable. He has shown a lot of quality with Uruguay and scored more than 30 goals (last season) with Liverpool, so he has the necessary quality to play for Barca."
Barcelona players have done it previously when it comes to "tapping up" potential transfer targets.
Arsenal fans were annoyed whenever a Barca player spoke about Cesc Fabregas before the former Gunners captain left to rejoin his hometown club in 2011.
Sources: AFP, PA Sport
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