The man who signed Luis Suarez for Liverpool, Damien Comolli, believes it's understandable that the striker wants to join Arsenal because the Anfield club cannot match his ambition.
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The Reds have rejected two Arsenal bids for the Uruguayan striker – most recently £40million plus £1, but he continues to be linked with a move to the Gunners – as well as Real Madrid.
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Former Reds director of football Comolli oversaw the £22.7m deal that took Suarez from Ajax to Merseyside in 2011, and he told the BBC: 'It looks like a very messy situation.
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'When I was there, we knew it would be hard to keep players like [Jose] Reina, [Daniel] Agger, Luis [Suarez] if we couldn't get into the Champions League.
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'Luis is extremely ambitious and with all due respect to Liverpool, they're a top-eight side, not top-four like Arsenal.'
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Suarez received a rousing reception when he was introduced as a second-half substitute in Steven Gerrard's testimonial on Saturday – although he did not acknowledge the crowd's support.
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Former Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow thinks the fans' wishes that Suarez will stay will be granted unless another club rival Arsenal for the forward's signature.
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Purslow believes the Merseysiders will not sell to a team they hope to rival in the top four next season, and said: 'If the only offer is from Arsenal I would expect Luis Suarez to stay at Liverpool.
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'It's disappointing as a follower of Liverpool that the player has so publicly and so early in the close season made it pretty clear that he would like to move on.
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'I'm pretty realistic about these things and it's not that unusual for a player of that magnitude to want to play at Champions League level. That appears to be his motivation.'
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Captain Gerrard, meanwhile, is cautiously optimistic that Suarez will be a Liverpool player come the close the transfer window.
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Speaking after the 2-0 testimonial win – courtesy of goals from Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson – over Olympiacos, Gerrard said: 'We've got some wonderful youngsters coming through and I think everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that we can keep important players at the club.
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'If we do I can assure everyone that we will compete.
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There might be one or two new faces to add to that as well a bid has been made to Atletico Madrid for striker Diego Costa] – we'll have to wait and see.
I don't and will never believe a single player is bigger than a football club...That's in no way possible. Suarez is still building himself.