BRENDAN RODGERS believes Luis Suarez owes it to Liverpool supporters to stay at Anfield this summer.

The Reds boss was in bullish mood as he discussed the long-running transfer saga at the team’s base in Jakarta.

Rodgers is adamant that the unsettled striker is not for sale and wants him to abandon his hopes of securing a transfer.

He dismissed Arsenal’s recent £30million bid – reports last night said they were lining up another one for £40m – and suggested it would take an offer in the region of the £55million Paris St-Germain paid Napoli for fellow Uruguayan Edinson Cavani for Liverpool to even consider a deal.

Rodgers also warned potential suitors, who are waiting in the belief they could land Suarez at a knockdown price late on in the window, that there is no chance of that happening.

Reds fans have shown great loyalty to Suarez throughout the controversies which have dogged his two and a half years at Anfield from the race row with Patrice Evra to his bite on Branislav Ivanovic.

His comments this summer about wanting to move on from the five times European Champions, and in particular being flattered by interest from Arsenal – having previously stated he wanted to quit England for Real Madrid – have strained that relationship.

He has also let down a manager who has stood by him throughout but Rodgers insists Suarez simply has a debt to pay to the fans and his team-mates.

“It’s not about me or the club, I think it’s the supporters and his team-mates for what they gave him,” Rodgers said.

“What I do is the same for anyone. My success is not just about trophies, although hopefully when I finish my career I will look back on having won things.

“For me it is about more than that. It’s about making people better people and supporting them when they need it. Luis doesn’t need to show me anything because that’s what I do. For me it’s about the great supporters we have. The backing they have given him is absolutely brilliant.

“They have stood by him through thick and thin, and through all the traumas he has gone through over the last couple of seasons. If there is anyone he owes it’s them and his team-mates, who have fought beside him, certainly not me.”

The growing fear among fans is that this saga could drag on into the new season and severely hamper Liverpool’s Premier League campaign.

If Suarez was to be sold in late August, the Reds would have little time to reinvest the proceeds but Rodgers is convinced that won’t happen.

The Northern Irishman is only too aware that last season’s 30-goal top scorer is key to Liverpool’s hopes of competing for a Champions League spot and will do everything he can to keep him on board to help spearhead the club’s continued revival.

“I don’t want to set a deadline or put a date on it but this is not something that will run too long,” he said. “We are totally in control of the situation. It is one where we don’t have to sell. He has got three years left on his contract.

“We are prepared to get some players in and spend money without having to sell Luis Suarez. The reality is that we have had one offer.

“There can be as much speculation as you like, but there has been nothing beyond that.

“It was an offer for what they (Arsenal) considered his value and worth. Obviously for a player of his quality, when you consider that Cavani has gone for £55million you know… Luis is up there in that bracket of top talent.

“Obviously it was an offer we didn’t deem worthy of the talent and even if they came back with that kind of amount (£55million) there’s no guarantee he would be sold even for that because we are trying to build something here.

“We don’t want to sell Luis Suarez as we are just trying to improve the squad. You come into Liverpool, one of the giants of the world, and even though we are not where we want to be yet, we are on our way there.

“The club is on its way back. There’s massive competition and a massive challenge but we don’t want to be disabling ourselves by selling players to another club, we want to keep our best ones here.

“Luis is a very important member of this squad and one of the top strikers in the world. Unless something drastic happens, he will be staying here.

“We are looking forward to him helping us try to get into the Champions League spots. That’s a competition we are fighting to get into. The great name and history of Liverpool dictates it should be in there.”

Suarez has told Liverpool he wants to jump ship in order to secure Champions League football this term, but Rodgers believes he would be wise to remember why he enjoyed the best season of his career for Liverpool.

It was a team built around the 26-year-old with a system tailored for him to shine.

“The way we played last year, you mustn’t forget that gave Luis Suarez the opportunity to flourish and hopefully this year that will continue to be the case,” Rodgers said. “I made the decision last year to move Andy Carroll out on loan because I wanted to work the team round Luis’ talents. All our movement patterns and our tactical ideas were based around him and he flourished from that.

“This year it will be the turn of others to flourish as well because he will be an important part of the team, but it will be about the team. The way we worked really helped Luis improve his game.”

Suarez is scheduled to link up with the squad in Melbourne early next week and Rodgers has no doubts that he will return from his holiday following the Confederations Cup and knuckle down.

“Luis will be there, his planes are booked and he will be in Melbourne with us,” he added.

“He rejoins us and he will get on with his work. I have had constant communication with him on that.”