Should Liverpool persist with Luis Suarez?

Is he really worth the hassle?

I am the usual phone-is-my-friend guy who wakes up in the morning, rubbing his eyes, logs on to Facebook and scrolls through to check what’s trending.

I am a huge Liverpool fan, who hits ‘like’ on any darned page of Liverpool FC, a habit which of late has been a shade troublesome. As I wake up, I see my home page flooded with news on Suarez – he wants to leave, he feels cheated, he will hand in a transfer request and what not. A little later in the day, as I scroll through the other football news, I still find something on the Suarez saga. With all due respect, this is getting really frustrating.

Even on our legendary captain’s day – Stevie G’s testimonial – the talk was all about Luis Suarez with no mention of the legend, who has put a host of titles at stake because of his loyalty and love of the club.

Suarez has enjoyed the support of the Liverpool management and fans even in times of trouble, which only arose because of his antics. Be it the so called “racism” saga to the more recent biting incident, Liverpool fans have stood through the one they considered their hero. But what do they get in return?

I agree Suarez has been on his toes, given his all and scored a lot of goals, but considering this is the time Rodgers’ philosophy is shaping into something fruitful, the time Liverpool are trying to strengthen their team, the time they are really going to push for the top 4 and eventually the title, it would be considerably better if he stayed put.

In his latest interview, Suarez has been quoted as saying,

“I am always going to be grateful to Liverpool for everything. But I have to put my career first. People say Liverpool deserve more from me but I have scored 50 goals in less than 100 games and now I could double the money they paid for me.

“I just ask that they respect the objectives I have in my career. I don’t want things to end badly. I just want us to come to an amicable agreement according to what was agreed,” Suarez told The Telegraph UK.

Suarez here comes to the defence of the accusation of him not being loyal, and wants Liverpool fans to understand his stance on forcing a move away.

There is absolutely no denying that a player’s ambitions must be paid heed to. But the one thing that still baffles is: how is a move to Arsenal a step forward and hence, an ambitious one?

Arsenal has had a host of players moving out, with just a solitary signing in young Yaya Sanogo. A team that is yet to play a qualifier to get into the Champions League next season, it hasn’t won anything for eight years and with the team as it stands, doesn’t look like winning anything soon. How is that being ambitious? Or we should wait for Arsenal to lose to PSV and then allow him to leave? I wonder how he would react then. ‘Interesting’ to say the least!

Another point to be brought in here is that earlier, Suarez wanted a move away from England because of the negative media attention and the fact that he despises them. So an intra-EPL transfer is certain to raise more than a few eyebrows.

An amusing fact is Suarez using the English media to force a move – the one thing he hated to the core and despised for so long that he wanted to just go away, is coming to his rescue.

Given all of this, there seems to me a lot more than what meets the eye in the Suarez transfer. He has been contradicting his statements time and again which has agitated the Liverpool faithful even more.

To put it in a different perspective – another staggering fact is that Suarez is on extremely low wages as compared to his Premier League counterparts. If van Persie earns 200,000/week and Suarez makes 120,000/week, then Suarez leaves for a better prospect. Is it so difficult to understand? This, to go with Champions League appearance – justified at that.

Suarez further on claims:

“Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I’d be allowed to go.

“I gave absolutely everything last season but it was not enough to give us a top-four finish – now all I want is for Liverpool to honour our agreement.”

“I want to move to play in the Champions League and there is a club offering me that opportunity. I have told the manager that I want to leave the club.

“I am being accused of showing a lack of loyalty but last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we did not qualify for the Champions League the following season then I would be allowed to go,” he went on in a chat with The Telegraph UK.

It seems from his statements that he did something of a favour to Liverpool to stay with them for another season, without realizing what Liverpool as a club had to go through because of him. The fans getting brickbats from all corners, still taking them in their stride, respecting Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, and this is what they get. It would be interesting to see how Arsenal deals with his on and off-field antics.

Luis Suarez – Rise!

The above statements make you go back to the old-time famous quote: “No player is bigger than the club.”

Suarez had that kind of a feeling and he forgot to realize it was him around whom Brendan Rodgers built his game and plan, allowing him to score the number of goals he did and the ones he missed.

Despite being pleaded to stay put by legends Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard and even manager Brendan Rodgers, who have taken pains to explain to him the philosophy, the future and the prospects at the club, if he still wants to leave, the door can always be opened at any point.

Liverpool’s owners have even come out stating they do not want their star player to leave and that he is not for sale. The next day, Suarez threatened to take the court.

I am afraid it is time for Liverpool to let go of their prized asset in Suarez. There is no point keeping a player who does not want to play for you.

Get 50 million in the kitty with the sale, buy three quality players, a striker, a defender and a winger and we will be better off with the game focused on no one and the players playing a lot more freely and getting into the areas they weren’t before.

With Suarez gone, the responsibilities between the players would be shared. With the current crop of players, adding another 50 million from the sale of Suarez would mean getting three quality players which makes the side even more potent and a better prospect going into the season, comprising of all the players who want to play.

Another important factor that cannot be discounted are the habitual instincts of Suarez such as the one on Ivanovic. With such allegations drawn on him before when at Ajax, there are still chances of such an incident next season which may see him serve an even bigger ban than the 10-match ban he is currently undergoing.

As it is he is going to miss the first six matches. Six matches down without Suarez this season. Assume he goes, Liverpool gets in top players; six matches with them would give the team an edge and the good early start would give the much needed impetus as well in the race to finish amongst the Champions League slots.

Coutinho has been superb, so has been Sturridge so far. Iago Aspas looks like he has a bag of tricks up his sleeve and for me, could be the surprise package of the season. Henderson is getting back into shape, Luis Alberto and Sterling are young and exciting, Mignolet is a top keeper, we have the experience of Kolo Toure and the hero – Gerrard.

To go with three-four more signings as expected, Liverpool look good even without Suarez, and it is time the Kopites realize that and let the Uruguayan go and try his luck at the Emirates to fulfil his ambition.

We believe in Rodgers and that he is going to infuse more quality in the setup and we are ready for the top four! And very soon we would reclaim our perch! Watch out fellows!

One last thing, Suarez: remember Torres?