The Liverpool forward Luis Suárez with the Player of the Year award presented to him by the Football Supporters' Federation.

Liverpool have opened talks with Luis Suárez's agent over the new contract they hope will keep the brilliant Uruguay international at Anfield and out of the reach of Europe's richest clubs for the prime of his career.

The Anfield club's managing director, Ian Ayre, flew to Barcelona on Tuesday for preliminary negotiations with Pere Guardiola, the agent involved in the striker's dispute with Liverpool over the terms in his existing deal when Arsenal tried to sign him in the summer.

Suárez has two and a half years remaining on his contract and Liverpool's owners, Fenway Sports Group, have been reluctant to offer extensions midway through a season. Such has been Suárez's stunning form since his return from suspension on 25 September, with his 17 goals in 11 matches propelling Liverpool to within two points of the Premier League leaders, Arsenal, that those plans have been revised.

There was no official contract offer put to Guardiola by Ayre. Their meeting was merely the start of what could prove a protracted process, with the brother of the Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola well aware of how highly Suárez's stock has risen this season. Real Madrid were interested in the 26-year-old in the summer but did not lodge an official bid, although they are expected to again be among Suárez's suitors at the end of this campaign.

Liverpool hope to head off another summer of speculation over the striker's future by offering to make Suárez the highest-paid player at Anfield at a time when his career is flourishing under Brendan Rodgers.

The rehabilitation of the Premier League's leading goalscorer was reflected in a rare individual accolade on Monday, when he was named the 2013 player of the year at the Football Supporters' Federation Awards at the Emirates Stadium.

Suárez chose "coming back to play" at Anfield as his highlight of the year and credited his relationship with the Liverpool supporters as the key to his recovery.

He said: "After so many difficult moments for me I was able to win the supporters back, and that was unbelievable when I came back to play."