Luis Suarez has confirmed he wants to leave Liverpool. The striker told reporters today he feels he has been driven out of the English game due to the behaviour of the British press, with their intrusion on his private life no longer something he can live with. Suarez admitted he has often been the architect of his own problems.

"It is a difficult moment for me, my coach and my colleagues know that [the media] didn't treat me well," Suarez said.

"Because of the paparazzi I could not go in my garden, I could not go to the supermarket.”

A move to Real Madrid was rumoured earlier in the week, with Suarez admitting a transfer to the Bernabeu would be hard to refuse. Speaking in Uruguay today, however, he said the decision is not based on money, but rather on his family’s welfare.

"My reason for leaving is not the money.

"It's my family and image. I don't feel comfortable here anymore."

Suarez has courted controversy like no other Premier League player since his arrival at Anfield, and press criticism and scrutiny has followed. The two most significant moments of controversy were his racist abuse of Patrice Evra, for which he received an eight match ban, and the recent biting of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, for which he was banned for ten games. Suarez admitted he had brought problems upon himself, with the biting incident “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

"The straw that broke the camel's back was my mistake," he said.

On Wednesday, in an interview with a Uruguayan radio station, Suarez first raised the issue of press intrusion and his desire to leave English football, although he was non-committal at that point.

Suárez said: "I love Liverpool, but if there is a chance of playing somewhere else … I suffered too much as a kid to get where I am to be attacked unfairly by the English press. They haven't appreciated me as a player, they've just judged my attitude.

"I'm happy at Liverpool, I'm happy because of the fans. I made a mistake, I'm human, but [the press] talked about me in ways they shouldn't have. My family have suffered and things got out of hand. My daughter and my wife have suffered. I'm not prepared to continue to put up with the English press."