Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has told Sky Sports that he believed Luis Suarez would "engineer" a move from Anfield as soon as he discovered he had bitten Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
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Striker Suarez, who joined Barcelona earlier this summer, was handed a four-month ban from football after the incident, which happened in the closing moments of Uruguay's group match against the Italians.
It was the third time in his career that he had bitten an opponent, and Gerrard said he knew at that moment that Suarez -- who scored 31 Premier League goals for the Reds last season -- would be on his way.
He told former Anfield colleague Jamie Carragher that he had previously believed Suarez would stay on Merseyside for one more season.
"I knew there was no way back for him then [after the bite] and I knew he was going to engineer a way out," he said.
"I thought he was going to stay -- I thought we'd have got another year out of him. I was actually already on the floor when I saw the bite because we [England] knew we were going out. It was a double blow, knowing you're going out of the World Cup and knowing you're going to lose your best player."
After the departure of Suarez for a reported fee of 75 million pounds, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has brought in a host of summer signings, with the most recent being Mario Balotelli from AC Milan.
"It's an interesting one because he [Balotelli] has got a point to prove," Gerrard said. "People are waiting to see whether he'll take to Liverpool, whether Liverpool is going to be the right place for him.
"He's certainly got the talent and ability. I've trained with him two or three times and he's got a great touch, he's quick, he's got the movement -- he's got everything in the bag.
"We'll have to wait and see if he behaves himself and performs -- that's what everyone is waiting for and I'm no different."
But he warned that Liverpool fans may have to wait to see the best of their new-look side because of the high volume of incoming players.
"We have to be a bit patient with them because they're not all going to play great from the start and it is going to take time for some of them to settle," he said.
"But I think we'll get stronger as the season goes on. The key is going to be how quickly we can all adapt to each other over the next weeks and months and try to get close to the performances of last year.
"It's going to take time because there's been so much change."