Swap for Suarez: Are these players viable options?

THE Luis Suarez transfer speculation shows little sign of an imminent resolution.

Even if the player joins the pre-season tour as requested and makes some sort of statement that he would be happy to stay for another year it is unlikely that with the situation reaching fever pitch another club would not throw their hat in their ring with a tempting bid.

I do not believe a move to Italy or Russia is likely and so the number of potentially attractive clubs that could afford to sign him is limited.

Add to this the fact that Liverpool would surely not sell to Manchester United, and that Real Madrid would not allow Barcelona to step in at any cost, and we end up with a total of six, three domestic and three continental.

So as Suarez is regularly placed in the top five players in the world and is still subject to a long-term contract with the Reds, it is surely the case that Liverpool will seek out top dollar for their prize asset.

If this elite group of clubs are sufficiently desperate for his signature, it may be possible that player exchanges could become part of any deal. The difficulty of course will be convincing the individual players to sacrifice their chance of playing in next year’s Champions League, so the persuasiveness of Messrs Rodgers and Ayre would have to be applauded if such a coup could be pulled off, but there are some mouth-watering possibilities when we examine some swap options with Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain.

Beginning at the Emirates it is perhaps too much to expect Wenger to include Santi Cazorla in negotiations. However Lukas Podolski has proved effective in the Premier League, and with the Liverpool defence still needing some class reinforcements, Thomas Vermaelen would be a good capture, paving the way for the departures of Martin Skrtel and/or Sebastian Coates.

Chelsea would offer less options as I do not think Mourinho would countenance the departure of Mata, Oscar or Hazard. The latter would be fantastic but personal terms would be very unlikely to be resolved. Brendan Rodgers may accept Ryan Bertrand as a small makeweight for competition for our left-back spot.
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If Manchester City became involved in the Suarez scramble their jewel would be David Silva, but again the individual player’s terms would be unlikely to be satisfied in terms of finances or ambition. Rodgers has experience of working with Scott Sinclair which could help to oil the wheels of any deal a little, but Micah Richards might be more attractive to the Reds’ boss; his positional flexibility, physical appearance and great pace would supply excellent cover.

Suarez himself has cast doubt over a possible move to Paris but if they were to outbid the opposition Liverpool could demand Mamadou Sakho, already apparently sparking our interest to bolster our back line. Then there is a choice between Jeremy Menez on the wing or Kevin Gameiro who should guarantee goals up front.

Madrid is of course still the favourite destination for the Uruguayan magician. In this scenario there would be calls for Xabi Alonso to return to Anfield but I feel this would be very unlikely, not least because the player has poured cold water on the idea. I also think he now falls too far outside the model player as set out by John Henry and Tom Werner.

Raul Albiol has been connected with us earlier in the window, while it is probably too much to think about the likes of Fabio Coentrao arriving at Albert Dock anytime soon. However we must again remind ourselves of the treasure we hold with our Luis; maybe it wouldn’t be impossible to attract Karim Benzema or Higuain?

Finally in my opinion the most attractive set of possible swaps arrives in the form of the German giants. If new boss Guardiola is insistent on obtaining the services of Suarez, then his brother acting as the player’s agent must make any possibly complicated negotiations more likely to succeed.

Any one of Jerome Boateng, David Alaba or Luiz Gustavo would stiffen up our spine in defensive circumstances while Xherdan Shaqiri has already been linked. Shaqiri is known mainly as a right winger but is two-footed and therefore flexible in a front three.

We should not settle for a deal worth less than £50 million and while some of the above names probably won’t get anywhere near the Shankley Gates, Liverpool have to play hardball in this matter.

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