There’s never a dull day being a Liverpool fan, with all the transfer rumours and ongoing plans for the Anfield redevelopment gaining motion. It’s been a worrying summer for the Kop faithful so far, with star player Luis Suarez announcing his intent to leave Liverpool during the transfer window. The Uruguayan has just returned from holiday after a not-so-successful Confederations Cup campaign where his national side failed to reach the final.
He joined up with his team-mates on tour in Australia, where he will prepare for the upcoming campaign with Liverpool and will still seek a move away from Liverpool. It’s believed there is solid interest from Real Madrid, which seems to be his main choice, along with interest from Chelsea and shock interest from Arsenal, who had a £30m bid for Suarez rejected just last week. The striker hasn’t been media shy, with him revealing all to the reporters whilst on international duty.
Suarez in one of his many media sessions. Courtesy of ???? ??????
He initially announced his intention to leave England due to the unfair treatment from the English media whilst with Liverpool. He was accused and found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra in 2011, accused and caught out diving during games and also, the most recent offence, biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in April 2013, for which he was given a 10 match ban from the FA.
Do I think his treatment is unfair? Yes. He committed the offences, but the media have repeatedly had a little dig at him and have always brought the incidents up in unnecessary times. Instead of one story, they go back to again and again and in my opinion it’s so repetitive, I’m sick of hearing about what I already know. I see it as lazy journalism, but that is just my opinion.
He has since been linked with a move to Arsenal, a move it would seem he’d welcome:
“If I receive an important offer to progress my career, I will study it. Some clubs have asked about me but I hand questions over to my agent. I am no stranger to rumours.
“I always want to improve. That’s why I left Ajax for Liverpool.
“But this club needs to fight to enter the Champions League and, when it doesn’t happen, it damages the morale of any player. So I’ve suffered.”
There could be a U-turn in the Suarez saga which would see him stay in England. So could he just be trying to force a move away from Liverpool in order to play Champions League football?
I think he will leave Liverpool this summer and it is obvious he is trying to force a move with his quotes, and I don’t think Liverpool will stand in his way either, no-one really wants an unhappy player at their football club. Liverpool will benefit from the money from Suarez, and it’s believed that Liverpool will accept no less than £40m for their prized asset. Suarez wants Champions League football, which Liverpool can’t offer, so this is another reason Suarez could force a move.
Suarez, in the days he did play in the Champions’ League. Courtesy of ???? ??????
I believe Liverpool have done a lot for Suarez, defending him when he was in the wrong for racially abusing Patrice Evra and so on. Liverpool have everything they could do to keep Suarez content and happy, which included a new contract last summer which significantly increased his wages.
Has Luis Suarez’s time at Liverpool come to an end? I think so. I think Brendan Rodgers will have a good go at persuading him to stay but eventually I think either Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers or Luis Suarez himself will make an official statement regarding a transfer request. Which is a sad outcome for all Liverpool fans, including myself. He may have said too much about leaving in recent weeks, but at the end of the day Liverpool are losing a world class player who, in Steven Gerrard’s eyes, is the “third best player in the world” (behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo).
I agree with Steven Gerrard with that statement. Suarez is a player of immense quality and even people who may dislike Luis Suarez can’t disagree with the fact he is a world class player. He is up there with the likes of Robin van Persie and Gareth Bale in the Premier League. Suarez is an astonishing player, who is admired worldwide by millions. He is an asset to Liverpool Football Club, he’s not a liability.
Liverpool will struggle to find another player with Suarez’s stature, especially in their current state with no European football to look forward to in the coming season. If Suarez does go, manager Brendan Rodgers will have a fair bit of transfer kitty to play with, but will be tasked with the job of trying to replace Luis Suarez. A huge challenge for even the biggest teams in the Premier League – Arsenal have so far failed to replace Robin van Persie, same with Chelsea with Drogba, and they have something Liverpool don’t; European football.
Luis Suarez – named 2011 Copa America Most Valuable Player Courtesy of LGEPR
As a Liverpool fan, I am worried for the future without Luis, but having signed Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge in January, it eases the pain of watching Suarez slip from the hands of Liverpool. Coutinho and Sturridge both played well and connected together brilliantly when given the opportunity to play with each other towards the back end of the 2012/13 Premier League campaign. I’ve always, always, been proud to call Luis Suarez a Liverpool player and I trust Brendan Rodgers with the job of signing a new striker, I have to, he’s our manager.
It will kill me seeing Suarez go, but maybe it’s for the best. He has caused Liverpool some major PR nightmares and maybe it’s time to cut our losses. I’m pretty disappointed with the way Suarez has handled the situation because Liverpool have defended him to the hilt when he was in the wrong on three occasions and I felt he should have respected the club in a more professional manner, at least gave us another season. But there is time to sign a replacement.
At the moment, Real Madrid are the front runners to sign Suarez, and even though Arsenal bid and plan to bid again, I think Suarez, out of respect for Liverpool and regardless of what he said, will join Real Madrid and leave the country. It could be a frustratingly long summer for Liverpool fans with the Luis Suarez ‘saga’ and I do think he’ll leave the club, but who knows? Anything can happen in football.
