English Premier League club Liverpool have agreed a $36 million deal with Ajax for Uruguay striker Luis Suarez.
Liverpool have been haggling with the Dutch outfit over the fee for several days but both announced on their websites that negotiations had proven successful on Friday.
The Reds have now been given permission to discuss personal terms with Suarez and will aim to complete the transfer before the European transfer window closes on January 31.
A statement on the official Ajax website read: "Ajax and Liverpool have reached an agreement over the transfer of Luis Suarez.He will make the move to the English club immediately. The deal is worth up to a total of €26.5 million ($36 million)."
Liverpool posted a statement on their website that read: "Liverpool Football Club announced this afternoon that they had agreed a fee of up to €26.5 million ($36 million) with Ajax for the transfer of Luis Suarez, subject to the completion of a medical.The club have now been given permission by Ajax to discuss personal terms with the player and his representatives."
The deal comes on the same day Liverpool revealed they had turned down a multi-million dollar offer from Chelsea for Spain striker Fernando Torres.
A Dutch documentary about a mentally ill and potentially dangerous 18-year-old has prompted lawmakers in the Netherlands -- amid national outrage -- to re-examine the treatment of those in psychiatric care.
The documentary, which was produced by the Lutheran-run Evangelical Broadcasting Company and aired on public television Tuesday, followed Brandon van Ingen, a patient at a mental hospital in Ermelo. Since 2007, van Ingen has spent part of his days tethered to a wall due to the danger he poses to others, according to State Secretary for Public Health Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten-Hyllner.
"Brandon's issue is so serious that he must be restricted in his freedom for the sake of his own safety and that of others," van Zanten-Hyllner wrote in a letter to parliament. "Because of this, Brandon consistently makes use of a band that he fastens himself when he is in the presence of his attendants and other visitors. Whenever there is no one present and at night, the band is loosened."
In response to the documentary, the country's political parties held emergency meetings Wednesday to discuss care for the mentally ill.
Van Zanten-Hyllner addressed those meetings, explaining that van Ingen's care was in line with rules for restraining mental health patients, but promised to examine whether a change is needed.
"The broadcast stirred me deeply," she wrote in the letter to parliament. "It is upsetting to see that such a young person, who has his life before him, has so little perspective for a better future."
Van Zanten-Hyllner noted that van Ingen, who apparently hears voices that tell him to do "bad and dangerous things," has his own apartment where he can move about freely.
The hospital is working on alternatives for van Ingen's care, van Zanten-Hyllner wrote, "and is undertaking constant efforts to improve the living situation."
The program "Outspoken" learned about Van Ingen's story from one of his caretakers at the hospital.
"I could no longer do these shifts," Iris Mourits said on the program. "Back-up shifts were OK, but being together with him in a room -- I think at some point he could sense that from the depths of my toes I could no longer see him on that leash."
Van Ingen's mother compared his care to that of a "caged animal."
"He feels like a dog on a line," she said.
Heerenloo hospital issued a statement Saturday assuring family members of those at the facility that van Ingen's case is an exceptional one and doesn't reflect the care the majority of patients receive.
Health care inspectors said Thursday that they would "investigate the cases in which freedom is taken away from patients similar to Brandon's situation."
Van Zanten-Hyllner said there are about 40 cases similar to van Ingen's in the Netherlands.
-- CNN
