‘Useless’ ex-Liverpool chief reveals ‘skint’ FSG required ‘convincing’ to sign adored Anfield icon
Former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli has revealed that Fenway Sports Group’s John Henry had to be “convinced” to sign Luis Suarez.
The 50-year-old returned to the Premier League in 2010 as he initially became Liverpool’s director of football strategy. He had previously held similar roles at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
After helping Liverpool sign Suarez and Andy Carroll during the 2011 winter transfer window, he became their director of football and he spent around 18 months with the Premier League giants before leaving by mutual consent in April 2012.
Suarez was a major success story at Liverpool as he scored 82 goals in 133 appearances during his three-and-a-half years in the Premier League.
The Uraguay international further established himself as one of the best strikers in Europe during his sensational spell at Barcelona.
Despite this, Comolli has revealed Liverpool – who are fifth in the 2023 Premier League net spend table – could have easily missed out on Suarez in January 2011 as he “had to convince John Henry to lend money” for the transfer.
“You have to remind people you are doing a good job, and you need to manage up,” Comolli said during an interview with The Telegraph.
“You need to constantly sell your project and keep the ownership on board. I was useless at it. Which sporting director gets fired after winning the [League] Cup and being in the FA Cup final with no money?
“I had to convince John Henry [FSG principal owner] to lend money to buy Luis Suarez. We were skint. We won the first trophy since 2006, and I got fired.
“If I was good at communicating up and outwards, I don’t know if I would still be in a job, [but] I would have been in a different situation.”
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Ex-Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva recently lifted the lid on his discussion with Suarez about Darwin Nunez, who has played with the Reds legend at international level for Uraguay.
“[Suarez] told me that Darwin is a shy boy, very calm, very quiet, but a player that wants to improve all the time,” Lucas said in an interview for Liverpool’s official website.
“He’s a goalscorer, we have no doubt about that. With his pace as well, I think it will be important to help him achieve what he wants this season.
“Luis has done really well and I’m very close to him now here in Brazil. Darwin in his first season, I think he was great.
“We know how difficult it is to come and play, the demands are really high, the way Liverpool play is different. So I think he’s done well.
“Of course in the second season we are all looking forward to seeing him improve again, because he’s young, he’s fast and can score goals.
“Hopefully this year will be an even better season for him.”
