Luis Suarez joined Liverpool from Ajax in January 2011 as the first signing of Kenny Dalglish’s return to the Anfield hot seat and his 51 goals in 96 appearances do not fully tell the story of the success of his signing.
Being a Liverpool fan for more than two decades, I would be fairly confident in saying that Luis Suarez is the best non-British player I have ever seen play for the club, surpassing previous Kop idol Fernando Torres. El Pistolero has enchanted the Kop with his mind-blowing close control and ability to score from almost any angle, emulating previous number 7s in a red shirt such as Kevin Keegan and the man that signed him.
However, despite his absolutely magnificent abilities with a football, his is not without his drawbacks. In just two and a half seasons playing in the Premier League he has accumulated suspensions worth a total of 20 matches. While I will not go into the debates of each of the suspensions, as I could write a book as long as War and Peace on each of them, it’s still a pretty shocking statistic. Majestic talents are paired with an incredibly short fuse once he enters the football field.
This summer has been a less savoury one for the striker that signed a five-year contract only 12 months ago, as the media backlash following the Branislav Ivanovic incident has supposedly driven Suarez to engineer a move away from Anfield. Liverpool fans have seen countless quotes from their idol both talking up Real Madrid and pressing for a move away from the British press. To defend Suarez, the British press have castigated him at almost every possible opportunity. While many of the things he has done were indeed his own fault, including a rather inappropriate gesture towards Fulham fans and of course the bite against Ivanovic, not forgetting the Evra incident, the different reactions for his actions compared to comparable events such as Rooney swearing a television camera against West Ham, Jermaine Defoe biting Javier Mascherano, and of course John Terry receiving half the eight-match ban Suarez received after being convicted of racial abuse against Anton Ferdinand.
But do we as Liverpool fans deserve more? Throughout all the suspensions, throughout the various accusations and the constant lambasting from the press, there is one institution that has stood by the joint Uruguayan top scorer - the Liverpool fans.
Many people said that Suarez should have been sold after the Ivanovic insult and my retort was always, “why punish the fans?” Why should the fans be punished by the club selling their best player because of a moment of stupidity? However, the prospect of Suarez leaving the club seems more and more likely with every passing day. But Suarez is indeed punishing the fans with his comments in the press, while we all know that the press like to twist certain things, he’s still giving them ammunition to play with and for me at least, it’s disrespectful.
It’s a shame to lose such a highly valued asset and such a magnificent player, but we need to have faith in Brendan Rodgers to find the replacements and, with a deal in principle already in place for Iago Aspas of Celta Vigo, and rumours of Liverpool closing in on three time Armenian player of the year Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Porto winger Christian Atsu, and Sevilla youngster Luis Alberto, alongside the wonderful January additions of Sturridge and Coutinho, our Uruguayan talisman may not be as much of a loss as we had figured. But it is imperative that Suarez is not sold on the cheap, and that John Henry and Fenway Sports Group give Rodgers a substantial amount of that transfer fee to scout a suitable replacement.