da realbet： Should you be the owner, Director of Football or manager of a European club that is in need of a star striker, this summer represents the best opportunity for some time to buy one. The availability of Robert Lewandowski, Edinson Cavani, Wanye Rooney and David Villa has been well known and speculated about, but over the last few weeks, Luis Suarez has fought tooth and nail to add his name to the list of illustrious front men of continental standard set to be on the move during the season break.
da betsul： The Liverpool forward has made the rather abrupt decision to effectively transfer list himself on the grounds of the British Media targeting him and venturing into his personal life, in addition to a lack of support from his club following his eight-match suspension for biting Branislav Ivanovic during an Anfield fixture against Chelsea towards the end of the season.
It begs the question as to what Brendan Rodgers should do next. Should he let his star striker leave and heed to his demands? Or should he stand his ground and maintain the current party line that Suarez is not for sale at any price?
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What the Liverpool gaffer should not do is apologise – how else was he supposed to react to his talismanic forward biting an opponent in front of an entire stadium, not to mention the millions of viewers from across the world watching the incident live on television, apart from publicly condemn his actions? Anything less would have demonstrated that Rodgers lacked strength of character and any notion of moral compass, whilst also implying that Suarez had become a bigger quantity as an individual than his club.
The 26 year old has claimed the Reds have shown him a lack of loyalty, yet their previous campaign to back the troubled star during his ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra, t-shirts and all, was one of the factors that cost Kenny Dalglish his job, and the hypocrisy on the Uruguayan’s part is clear to see, as he is now prepared to turn his back on a club that not only stood by him throughout constant controversy, but has furthermore now provided him with the platform to attract interest from Europe’s footballing superpowers.
With that in mind, it seems unlikely that a peaceful resolution to keep Suarez at Anfield will be found by the end of summer. But in many ways, the Uruguay international’s potential departure represents a blessing in disguise. His outrageous form this season, recording 25 goals and 5 assists in 33 Premier League appearances, spelled out that sooner or later Suarez would seek a move away from Merseyside, whilst his outspoken criticism of all things English has at least softened the blow from Rodgers’ perspective that he will not have to endure the pain of watching Suarez ply his trade at another Premier League club.
Similarly, it’s no secret that the Reds could certainly do with the potential £40million that Suarez’s transfer would bring in. A sizable chunk would be dedicated to finding a replacement and maintaining the Anfield tradition of having a talented front-man, but overall, the roster presents a great imbalance between young and old, overachieving and underperforming and potential and ability that needs to be addressed rigorously before Liverpool can seriously consider themselves contenders in the race for Champions League qualification.
The core aspects of the squad are clearly there, with a number of promising starlets such as Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho breaking through, yet this summer Rodgers will need to make further defensive acquisitions than simply Kolo Toure, with Jamie Carragher retiring as well as Martin Skrtel and Sebastian Coates expected to be moved, whilst none of his collection of young midfielders appear ready to take over the mantle in the middle of the park from Steven Gerrard – the England man is still going strong and has modified his game to suit his age, yet there is no doubt that he is slowly slipping into his twilight years.
The cash injection could well be the boost Liverpool need to return to past glories, or at least speed up the process of moving the club in the right direction, but the counter-argument is obvious the Reds stand a better likelihood of returning to top-tier continental football by keeping hold of their only world-class player. Daniel Sturridge kept up his exceptional form amid Suarez’s absence during the tail-end of the season, but the England youngster does not currently possess the ability to make the Merseyside club an attacking threat in the big matches in the way the Uruguayan can, and there is no doubting Suarez’s talismanic qualities.
The Liverpool forward has not only produced a steady supply of goals to make Rodgers’ first campaign at Anfield a much less painful process than it could have been, whilst the Reds boss leads the squad through a difficult transition period, but he has spent the most part of the season as the team’s only outlet going forward. Every attack went through the 26 year old – he was the first port of call in building up play, in addition to being one of a rare few Liverpool players capable of finishing chances.
Overall, he was directly responsible for nearly half of his club’s 71 domestic goals, and there is certainly some truth in the argument that had Suarez not come with such negative stigmatism, he would have been the favourite for the PFA Player of the year award – especially considering he was performing his miracles at a club that failed to break into the top half of the Premier League for the first four months of their campaign. It is no surprise that monoliths of European football are now running the rue over the Liverpool star.
My opinion is however that now represents the best opportunity to sell. Considering his unbelievable form, Liverpool would only be able to hold onto their talisman for another year at most, and he has at least graced the Reds with the silver lining that he will not jump ship to another Premier League club. The fact Suarez has made himself available against his club’s wishes will undoubtedly knock a small chunk off any potential fee, and it’s a shame that a player can now dictate his own future based upon questionably superficial motives, but that is the nature of the modern professional footballer.
Reds fans will be bitterly disappointed, however, the compensation in the form of transfer revenues that Suarez’s departure will provide gives Brendan Rodgers the chance to continue his revolution at Anfield and further improve the Liverpool squad, which is still some way short in terms of quality and depth of the Premier League’s top four, in addition to possessing too many below-par performers such as Stewart Downing, who are yet to prove cost effective.
So far in his Liverpool career, the Anfield boss has made a series of astute and promising signings, and I believe Rodgers will be able to maintain his successes in the transfer market by taking full advantage of the potential £40million at his disposal. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to move forwards, and although Suarez’s departure will be a huge loss on Merseyside, it could provide the foundations for the club ‘s future, by continuing and extrapolating further Liverpool’s current transfer policy of investing in promising and talented youngsters.