When Luis Suarez got the call from Liverpool over the weekend, surely one of the major selling that motivated his move to Anfield will have been the prospect of linking up with Fernando Torres. What a difference a day, and around £85 million, makes.
The deal for Suarez was already well in the pipeline before transfer deadline day, but the player himself seems unfazed by all of Monday’s mayhem and is genuinely delighted at becoming a Liverpool player, if perhaps a little disappointed at missing the opportunity to partner Torres:
“I am very happy to be here. For me this is the most important club not just in England but the whole world. That’s why I am very happy. Liverpool is a very famous club. It is the most famous club in England. I watched Liverpool as a boy, I watched English football as a boy. Liverpool have great fans – the greatest in England I think. Once again, it’s a dream to be able to come and play here.”
The Uruguayan sealed his switch from Ajax yesterday for around £22 million and a flurry of Liverpool fans’ tweets followed, proclaiming their satisfaction at the signing. Suarez, together with the arrival of Andy Carroll of course, certainly provided a considerable sweetener for the bitter pill of the Torres departure. Even the shirt-burning zealots in the Anfield car park would have surely found some consolation once the initial shock had passed.
The Statistics
Suarez got his career off to a good start by winning the Uruguayan league in his first season with Nacional. After making his name on home soil, the striker moved to the Netherlands for a season with Groningen where he again impressed, notching up 10 goals during his first season. But it was at his next club, Ajax, where Suarez truly established himself as a lethal striker. During his three and a half years at the club, Suarez had an outstanding return rate of 81 goals in 108 league games, including a remarkable 35 goals in 33 games during the 2009/2010 season.
Ajax managing director Rik van den Boog couldn’t praise the forward enough:
“Luis is going to bring the place (Anfield) alive because he is a street fighter. He arrived here with a decent reputation but he was not a big player then. In the dressing room he soon stood up and became a leader. That’s why he was special. We’ll remember him for his incredible amount of goals and what he has done for the club. Our fans were crazy about him.”
While Suarez is a proven goalscorer, there is an unsavoury side that has blighted his game. In November 2010 the player was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder during a league match. This came after the infamous handball incident in last summer’s World Cup after he stopped a clear-cut goal in the dying minutes of Uruguay’s quarter-final clash with Ghana. After the controversial incident Suarez boldly stated that “the hand of God now belongs to me” and “I made the save of the tournament”. He attracts yellow cards just as easily as he does controversy.
The Prospects
Under Kenny Dalglish Liverpool have been playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with Fernando Torres as the lone striker, supported by an attacking midfield three. With Andy Carroll sidelined with a thigh injury for at least the next couple of fixtures, you would expect Dalglish to continue using this system with Suarez taking Torres’s place in a straight swap and the likes of Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez in support.
Carroll will soon be returning from injury however, and one of the most appealing aspects of Suarez’s game, apart from all his goals, is his adeptness at playing as a second striker and ability to provide assists. Suarez could well adopt an advanced role in the attacking midfield three, playing behind Carroll then once the big centre-forward is fit.
Football analyst Tor-Kristian Karlsen spoke about Suarez’s unique versatility:
“Ideal position probably as a 2nd striker (dependent on movement, exploiting space) next to a less mobile partner in a front two. Very comfortable as a wide forward in a front three. Personally I don’t see him as a lone striker. Main strengths: dribbling 1v1, acceleration, shooting/finishing technique, positional sense, right-footed but nearly as natural with his left.”
This seems to suggest that in due course Carroll will become the primary target man with Suarez occupying any of the forward roles around him. That could work with most formations, be it 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1 or even Roy Hodgson’s old favourite 4-4-2. The Uruguayan’s versitility in a number of positions will also be a positive for Steven Gerrard owners, as the Liverpool captain should not be pushed too far back and lose that key attacking aspect of his game.
Suarez is valued at 9.0 on the FPL game and more will become clear once we see how Dalglish fits him into the side. His debut could possibly come in Wednesday’s Anfield meeting with Stoke City; Liverpool are still waiting on international clearance at the time of writing. Following that, at the weekend (6 February) is the perfectly scheduled clash with Chelsea; a game in which Suarez will be looking to prove his worth to the Liverpool faithful and overshadow Torres in opposition.
