Luis Suarez thanks Steven Gerrard for stopping him making a 'big error' in joining Arsenal

Suarez was the subject of an offer from Arsenal in the summer of 2013

Steven Gerrard posted an emotional farewell to Luis Suarez (Getty Images)

Luis Suarez has publicly thanked Steven Gerrard for talking him out moving to Arsenal in the summer of 2013.

The then-Liverpool striker was the subject of a £40m plus £1 bid from the Gunners, but instead stayed on in Merseyside and scored 31 goals for the Reds last season.

In his recently released book, Luis Suarez: Crossing the Line, the Uruguayan said that he would have made "big error" joining Arsenal.

"It would have been a big error that I would have made had it not been for Steven Gerrard.

"We spoke about this when I went to Melwood to pick up my things at the end of the summer and he said: 'You did the right thing, you waited until the best moment.'

"He had told me to play well for Liverpool, give it another year and it will be Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Barcelona coming for you and then you can go where you want, because you have the quality to play at any of those three clubs."

Luis Suarez together with Steven Gerrard this summer (GETTY IMAGES)

During this summer, after Suarez had joined Barcelona for £75m, Liverpool captain Gerrard revealed that he had told the forward that he was "too good to join" the Gunners.

"With all due respect to them, I told him he was too good for Arsenal.

"Luis' dream, from the first day he came to us, was to play for Real Madrid or Barcelona."