Arsenal  ready to explode large transfer bomb, Liverpool’s Uruguayan goal machine Luis Suarez close to Gunners.

Arsenal have reinforced their determination to sign Uruguayan Luis Suárez with a club-record bid of £40m plus £1 for the Liverpool striker. The offer was rejected out of hand by Liverpool but Suárez could push for talks over a sensational move to the Emirates Stadium, if he so desires.

Arsenal have upped their bid for wantaway Liverpool striker Luis Suárez and tabled £40m, plus an extra £1 for the Uruguayan.

The cheeky north London club have reportedly matched Suárez’s release clause and increased the bid by one whole pound.

On the face of it, Arsene Wenger wants Liverpool’s talisman to add goals, creativity and potency to his Arsenal team, which is why the London club has now lodged a third bid for the player of £40,000,001, having had earlier offers of £25m and £35m rejected.

Liverpool were angered by Arsenal’s second bid for the 26-year-old when it arrived on Tuesday and remain adamant it will not trigger the release of their prized asset. The Arsenal chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, was informed by his Anfield counterpart, Ian Ayre, that Liverpool would not consider a sum of £40m for Suárez when he lodged an opening offer of £30m plus £5m in add-ons.

Reds are adamant that the £40m clause is not a fixed sale price and that they remain free to negotiate their own transfer fee for Suárez. As reported earlier this summer, Liverpool rate Suárez as a better player than Fernando Torres when he was sold to Chelsea in January 2011 and would demand in excess of the £50m received for the Spain international. Manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed that position last week when he placed Suárez in the same price bracket as Uruguay team-mate Edinson Cavani, who recently joined Paris Saint-Germain from Napoli for £55.6m.

“When you consider that Edinson Cavani has gone for £55m you know … Luis is up there in that bracket of top talent,” the Liverpool manager said. “Obviously it [Arsenal’s first bid] was an offer we didn’t deem worthy of the talent and even if they came back with that kind of amount [£55m] there’s no guarantee he would be sold even for that because we are trying to build something here.”

Nevertheless, Arsenal’s strategic move will apply pressure on Liverpool should Suárez ask to open negotiations with Arsène Wenger and push for Champions League football at the Emirates. Arsenal have evidently been encouraged to believe that £40m-plus is a sale clause and a legal dispute over the wording of Suárez’s contract cannot be discounted, having been linked with several transfers this summer without breaking the £15m club-record fee paid for Andrey Arshavin in 2009.

Wenger had hoped to sign Gonzalo Higuaín from Real Madrid but the Argentina international is mulling over a move to Napoli for a fee of around £30m. Higuaín’s departure from the Bernabéu would increase the prospect of Real joining the pursuit of Suárez but, despite the Uruguayan professing his admiration for Real on several occasions this summer, Real have made no contact with Liverpool.

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