IN the weeks leading up to the home game against Chelsea, Luis Suarez found his name on the back pages of the newspapers and on most fans lips for purely footballing reasons.
He was the leading goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League, well on his way to being the first Liverpool FC striker since Fernando Torres back in 2007-2008 to score 30 goals in a season and had just been nominated by his peers for the Footballer of the Year award.
People were finally seeing what all us Liverpool FC fans had been saying all along; he is a great footballer who was letting his football do the talking. Any thoughts of the race row between him and Patrice Evra and the subsequent handshake fiasco were tantalisingly close to being completely forgotten.
That was until the 21st April 2013. During one of the best performances Liverpool FC put in against one of the top four teams in the country last season, Luis Suarez, with no provocation bit Bransislav Ivanovic on the arm during a tussle off the ball in the Chelsea penalty area.
Fortunately for Luis Suarez the incident went un-noticed by all the match officials, and Suarez went on to equalise for Liverpool FC in the 90th minute of the match. Unfortunately, there was only ever going to be one talking point after the game.
Suarez had made himself back page and quite surprisingly front page news but for all the wrong reasons once more. Even the Prime Minister got in on the act, it was certainly a media frenzy and as close to a witch hunt as you are ever likely to see.
The FA reacted quickly also and dished out a 10 game ban. Initially there was outrage and disappointment from Liverpool fans and I myself spent time defending Suarez and his actions but it’s hard to defend someone who has done something similar in the past.
So Liverpool finished the season without Suarez and as the dust settled on what was an ultimately disappointing season. We as fans were encouraged by the comments made by Suarez about his future and how he only saw himself at Liverpool FC.
All was forgiven from our point of view as fans and the club was ready to move on with the planning for the new season, a season which we all thought would include our star striker.
Then, almost out of nowhere the rumours started. Twitter was awash with sources and people supposedly in the know about Suarez wanting to leave and play for Real Madrid. He had given an interview while away with Uruguay on international duty saying that he would find it hard to turn the Spanish giants down if they came calling.
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Most fans hoped that something had been lost in translation, that he was politely answering a question posed to him but had no real interest in Real Madrid. How wrong we were.
As the days came thick and fast so did the Luis Suarez soundbites, he was looking for “a change in environments” he didn’t “feel comfortable anymore” in England and blamed the media for almost hounding him out after the Ivanovic bite incident.
Although he and he alone was responsible for the bite incident, nearly all Liverpool FC fans I spoke with seemed to have genuine sympathy for him and I think we all hoped that a summer of transfer stories, managerial changes and of course a long break from the UK would help the press move on to a different story and just leave our Luis alone.
As we now know that didn’t happen, and perhaps now Suarez has bitten off more than he can chew with us fans, now with his open flirtation with Arsenal and how his initial claims that he had to leave England due to his constant persecution have been proven to be false, has he pushed us too far?
Do we as fans deserve more than this? Or do we just accept this is football and if he cannot get the move he wants come August 31st do we welcome him back into our hearts with open arms? Is it ok as long as he scores the goals he scored last season? I for one am not sure.
Firstly, I think Daniel Sturridge is our first choice striker for the new season. Secondly, the team performed very well without Luis Suarez last season and I’m confident of a good start this upcoming season without Suarez in the starting line-up. Thirdly, in Philippe Coutinho we have the perfect No10 and his link up with Daniel Sturridge would mean that Suarez, when fit and available, would have to play in one of the wider attacking positions. Would he readily accept that?
Especially if the club had stopped him getting the move he appears to desperately want. I doubt that he would, and do we want a sulking player around the club? No matter how much ability he has I would suggest that we do not.
My final reason is that as we all know, we are not one of the elite teams in terms of finance and FSG and Brendan Rodgers have stated many times that it may take three or four transfer windows before we get the players we want into the club and the players we don’t want out.
The £40-45 million transfer fee we would expect to get for Luis Suarez would help speed up our transfer dealings and help improve the team and squad overall. As the saying goes, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.
Have Luis Suarez’s actions of the last month caused more damage than any bite could have?
Can we still forgive and forget?
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“one of the best footballs we ve played against a top side last season”(paraphrased). it wasnt a good performance from lfc nd we were only lucky to get a draw cos of what i wld term “the benitez sub plot”. RAFA GAVE US THE DRAW
suarez equalised in the 96th minute nd not 90. get ur facts right.
I for one feel let down by suarez, he has been backed by the fans through thick and thin, mostly thick, we stuck up for him when people said he dived, then we stuck up for him in the evra race row, handshake, and now bite, we have backed him and accepted him, he wants to play in champions league football, i get that but if we had a player who wasnt banned for 21 games in the last 18 months, we might have had more lf a chance, not a big chance but having your top scorer sidelined through his on pitch behaviour or lack there of is a massive dent. Most of me hopes he stays to pay us back for the support we have shown him, the other part wants him gone but not to any other premier league club! Id rather he went to a different league for a loss or warmed the bench till his contract is up.
for suarez,if he had played the all 38 games without being suspended about his behavier,we were able to qualify for champions league.so he must pay for it.
you re right for what u re saying let suarez dey bench
I for one would like the money coming for Suarez, we can get 2 very good players that would be willing to give their full commitment to the club, and be pleasing to fans with outstanding performance. I am looking forward to an exciting performer like Bernard/Eriksen.
Really dissapponted with Suarez..no loyalty to team and fan who support him during his bad day in England..
Suarez needs to go, we supported him 100% and now he has been whoring himself out to other clubs even after his stupid antics on the field, he has gone a step further and kicked our supporters in our hearts. Brendan has my full support and I will respect him more for showing Suarez the door and putting the club first.
We simply cannot sell him to Arsenal, I don’t care for how much! They are a competitor for 4th, we should do a swap deal with Madrid for Higuain and then Arsenal lose out on two of their most wanted!
Good thinking McKay flames we need players like Erickson and bernard
Suarez has probably used the negative press he gets as a convenient excuse for seeking a way out of Anfield without seeming mercenary. He knows how vilified Torres was for jumping ship. I’ve read that Real Madrid are ready to offer £20m plus Higuain for Suarez. If this is an accurate story then Liverpool should accept as we get a decent player plus cash in return. Rodgers may be able to convince him to stay though but if not I’d rather Suarez played for Real Madrid than with a rival PL club.
Spot on. Fenway Sports Group needs to show some resolve. They have spent next to no money so far since the sale of Carroll and Shelvey has more than compensated for the pittance they’ve put out. If the Madrid deal is as advertised then it is a no brainer; if we keep Suarez, then get us a decent replacement for Martin by loosening the purse strings. Show some resolution to move forward and the world class players will flock to be here.
Get rid. Soon as
No for Arsenal or any English team for that matter. I feel for BR and us fans. Not easy to keep or attract players without the champions league play. However, It would be so satisfying when we make to 4, and watch those who choose otherwise wait in line for us to take them. We’ve been there done that, some of new commers maybe in the champions league, but not any time soon will win it nor will they ever come close to our Glory. We will be back, the young lads will deleiver.
if he insist,let him go sometimes he is blocking a new suarez in lfc coulors to be seen
if he wants to go finee,we should make deal with real madrid and collect d money and sign bennard and erickson
Suares has really let liverpool club and the fans down! After the club and fans stood by him during his racial abuse saga and the latest biting incedence, he then feels that by leaving the club is the only way to reciprocate the kind gesture!?! He is truely a blatant cheat and a lier! Lfc should sell him and get on with life. Players come and go…but the team remains . Good redance to bad rubbish?!?:-@
Emulate dortmund on lewandowski saga at the end he stays reluctantly.
I admit, I got it wrong. I was prepared to stand by Suarez over the Evra incident but the bite was embarrassing and painful. And now our beloved Suarez disappears on international duty and so spends the next six weeks openly courting all and sundry like a cheap Victorian whore. Enough is Enough. Mine and your beloved LFC are so much better than this. Sure, we’re not perfect, we make mistakes, but we deserve to be trash talked like this? Disappear you scrum! Go to the Arsenal if u so desire. You’re nothing! You think you’ve suffered a hard time in England? You ain’t seen nothing yet!
What did you expect ? Staying at a struggling mid table club with no money , no decent manager ?
typical everton or manure fan. we dont buy your trash sean murphy. try something better.
Not to arsenal lol let them go and sign another *player from the french league its either Madrid or he stays
We’ll see a million luis suarz’s but they’ll remain only one ‘Steven Gerrard’,praise what we have,Our biggest signing of the summer.YNWA
Suarez is class . Get rid of the clown we call a manager and Suarez might want to stay
No way let him go!!
Finding another Player of the Year (which he was regardless of the fiasco at the end of the season) is not so easy and certainly not cheap.
Make him stay one year get us back to at least Europe then there is leverage to attract.
Cash means nothing if nobody will come and finding someone with equal quality will be virtually impossible with where we are. No no no……
I am getting quite sick of LS saga. We should just sell him to a European team . Use the money to buy 3 quality players . No player or manager is bigger than the club . If a player thinks he is too good for the club just sell him. No point keeping a player who is not willing to play for us.