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MADRID. – Luis Suarez is now “100 percent” a Barcelona player, the Spanish club has said. A £75 million deal was agreed last week for the Liverpool striker. The La Liga runners-up are not able to present Suarez to their fans as the Uruguayan (27) is serving a four-month ban from football-related activity for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup.

“He is 100 percent a member of the club,” Barca director of sport Andoni Zubizarreta told a news conference yesterday: “Luis Suarez is a Barca player to all extents and purposes. It is fact.”

Suarez will be ineligible to play for Barca or even to train with his team-mates until November unless the appeal lodged with the Court of Arbitration for Sport is successful.

But Zubizarreta said he was convinced Suarez will be a “positive” acquisition.

“We accept people here, imperfections and all,” he said. “I am sure Luis Suarez will be someone positive for us in the future. Luis Suarez is an important player for this club but the club is more than its players.”- AFP.

Suarez’s ban was the biggest in World Cup history, eclipsing the eight-game suspension given to Italy’s Mauro Tassotti for elbowing Spain’s Luis Enrique – now Barca boss – in 1994.

Suarez, last season’s English Premier League top scorer, signed for Liverpool from Ajax in 2011 for £22,7 million and had four years left on his contract.

“Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Neymar? Coaches want to have the best players and the more the better. I’m delighted to have them,” said Enrique, who was appointed Barca manager in May.

“My target is to put a team together which is as competitive as possible. It is not about just two or three players, it is the whole team. But the better the players we sign, then great.”

When he is eventually eligible to play again, Suarez is expected to wear the number nine shirt in a Barcelona forward line that includes both Argentine Messi and Brazilian Neymar.

The club is looking to rebuild under Enrique after last season marked the first without a major trophy in six years.

If the transfer fee is confirmed at £75 million, it will be the third biggest in football history.

Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo cost Real Madrid £86 million and £80 million respectively.

Barcelona have been told by football’s world governing body Fifa that, under the terms of the ban, they will not be able to publicly unveil Suarez, as they have done with previous signings.

It was estimated about 90 000 fans were in the Nou Camp for Neymar’s presentation in June 2013.

Meanwhile, Barcelona have allowed 22-year-old forward Cristian Tello to join Portuguese side Porto on a two-year loan deal.

Porto have the option to buy the Spain international at the end of the loan spell, while Barcelona can recall him after one season. – AFP.