Luiz Suarez Saga: To laugh or to sneer?

Admittedly, as a Manchester United die-hard fan, any news from Liverpool can be interesting given the history of rivalries between these two clubs. Whether one sees it as sportingly mannered bantering or going to the extreme (mocking of the Munich crash by Liverpool fans) the intensity of bantering between the two clubs supporters rivaled, and even exceed that of El Classico in Spain. 

 

From Rafa Benitez and now Luiz Suarez, Liverpool seems to hijack the headlines with ‘unexplainable’ actions. First Rafa tried to take on Sir Alex Ferguson in the mind games department in that one (and only) season where Liverpool finish 2^nd in the points to Manchester United. Liverpool even thrashed Sir Alex Ferguson’s side (4-1) at Old Trafford with a Fernando Torres show. But that is about as close as they have gotten in the league. If Rafa Benitez is to be taken seriously after deciding to take on Sir Alex Ferguson in his now infamous rant, surely they must be doing better and better in the league after that. Instead it was Manchester United who went on and equals with the 19^th title and 20^th after that.

 

Now Luiz Suarez seems to be taking Liverpool to another new height with his antics. Diving antics aside, the racism row with Patrice Evra had done enough to undermine Liverpool credibility as a well run top football club. For those who are still in denial, here is the full report of the outcome of the racism row involving Patrice Evra and Luiz Suarez. It is hard to believe that the FA would seriously undermine its own reputation and punish Suarez unfairly (as claims by sections of Liverpool fans). However it is also the manner in which Liverpool’s hierarchy handle this crisis. First, it was Liverpool’s manager at that time - Kenny Dalglish, then the board initially refuses to blame Suarez with the insistence that the ban is a witch hunt, forgetting that in the modern games, players and clubs have social responsibility to the stakeholders. Therefore when Suarez decided to sunk his teeth on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic the damage just got deeper. No way can he (Suarez) escape from that even with the best excuse in town, hence the ban.

 

Granted, Luiz Suarez is a good player (not great – read this article). But the controversies that follows him seems to be ‘lasting forever’ – wherever he goes. Luiz Suarez will be Luiz Suarez, one cannot expect a grown man (a badly behaved one) to change overnight, if at all. It is also an open secret that Luiz Suarez prefers Real Madrid, instead of another English club. With Real Madrid currently hot in pursuit of a world record bid for Gareth Bale (as well as getting Cristiano Ronaldo to commit his future), it seems that Suarez is down the lists of their priorities. Therefore it is not surprising that Luiz Suarez is keen on opening talks with Arsenal after the London club submitted the infamous “£40+1 million bid. By moving to Arsenal (or even considering), Suarez is in danger of contradicting himself after claiming the English media is making his life in England unbearable. It also shows that he is nothing more than a mercenary, with the prospect of higher wages able to compensate for his family’s supposedly ‘unhappy’ life in England.

 

By now Liverpool’s hierarchy has openly question whether they had make the right decision to stand by Luiz Suarez. Statements coming out of Anfield are questioning Suarez’s loyalty when the club had stood by him in the racism and ‘biting’ controversies. In turn it has been reported that Luiz Suarez himself will not force the transfer issue – merely letting the club to make the decision. It is also reported that Arsenal may have to up their offer in the region of £55 million if they are keen on Suarez. Like we said before in the previous article – good luck Arsenal!