VIOLENT racist Luis Suarez was formally unveiled as a Barcelona player yesterday, though his past indiscretions meant he couldn’t be there to enjoy the ceremony.

The Uruguayan touched down in Catalonia on Tuesday to complete the formalities of his £75 million transfer from Liverpool.

But the four-month ban he picked up for completing a biting hat-trick meant he could not be at the Nou Camp for his unveiling.

New Barca coach Luis Enrique and director of football Andoni Zubizarreta were left to answer questions about the signing on their own.

The 27-year-old won’t be allowed to play for Barca, or even train with his teammates, until his ban is up or his appeal with Fifa is successful — but Zubizarreta insisted he is nonetheless “100 per cent a member of the club.”

The former Spanish international was tight-lipped about what the Blaugrana were doing to reduce the ban.

“Luis Suarez is a Barcelona player for all purposes but the recommendation from our lawyers has been to remain discreet.

“Our lawyers tell us that we should be very prudent with what we say and your question is asking about something that could only happen after certain verdicts have been reached.

“Then we’ll be able to explain things better.

“But it’s fact, it’s true. He’s 100 per cent a member of the club.

“We’re speaking to our lawyers to find out the best way of defending his rights but at the moment there’s nothing I can say about that.”

Enrique admitted he had a headache finding a decent centre-back.

“Obviously we’re working on buying players and we’re hoping to announce a centre-back soon.

“About 90 per cent of clubs in Europe have the same problem, it’s a position everyone is working on.

“We’re working in the market and we haven’t come to a definitive decision on some players we were hoping to sign.

“It’s not easy to find centre-backs who are better than the ones we’ve got and if we could find them then we would sign them.”