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Liverpool
have agreed to sign Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez from Ajax Amsterdam
for 26.5 million euros ($36.32 million), the clubs have said .

The news came hours after Liverpool rejected an offer from Premier League rivals Chelsea for Spain forward Fernando Torres.

“The club have now
been given permission by Ajax to discuss personal terms with the player
and his representatives,” Liverpool said in a statement on their
website (www.liverpoolfc.tv).

If terms are
agreed, the 24-year-old Suarez would be a welcome addition to a
Liverpool team who have been enduring a poor season that has just begun
to show signs of improvement after Kenny Dalglish was appointed manager
earlier this month.

Torres has been
somewhat out of sorts this term and the addition of Suarez, who has
scored 111 goals in 159 matches for Ajax since joining in 2007, could
sharpen their attack.

“I can understand
Luis wanting to go to Liverpool, it’s a beautiful club, but then it has
to be satisfying for both parties,” Ajax manager Frank De Boer said
before his club released a statement along the same lines as
Liverpool’s.

“The departure of
Luis will be a big loss but on the other hand we have the quality to
win matches without him.” Suarez has just finished serving a
seven-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder
in a league match in November.

World Cup Further
controversy came at last year’s World Cup when Uruguay went through to
the semi-finals after his deliberate handball in the final minute of
extra time against Ghana prevented a decisive goal from Dominic Adiyiah.

Suarez, who blocked Adiyiah’s attempt with two hands on the line, was sent off but his team won a penalty shootout.

The striker, who has scored seven league goals this season, would
join Liverpool with the 18-times English champions sitting seventh in
the Premier League table.