Luiz Suarez: World class? How about Wayne Rooney?

Luiz Suarez for £40 (or more) million? And Wayne Rooney for £30 million?

Let’s look at these two controversial players. On the basic footballing comparison you could say Wayne Rooney is much more establish, and even more highly rated than Suarez having won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League as well as the World Club Championship. Both provide sparks and creativity in their teams’ attacking play. And of both are being considered key players for their respective clubs. Off field however Rooney has the edge, with his scandals. Suarez is not far behind, with poorly rated relationship with the media. In the media intensive football games these days, no players cannot afford to have poor reputation with the media, whether it is mainstream or not.

Why is Luiz Suarez so highly rated. Answer is simple, without having to delve into technical and statistical analysis – he is playing in an average team. Liverpool now is not Liverpool of the 70’s and 80’s. They seem to have ‘applied-and granted” permanent residency in the premier league midtable and looks happy to be there at the moment. Granted one or a few ‘mickey mouse’ cups, or the ‘one-off’ luckiest comeback of the century for that night in Istanbul, they (Liverpool) have done nothing to being justified as a great club at the moment. Only history is elevating their status in the “big clubs” department. But history in greatness must be follow by league titles! Therefore it makes Luiz Suarez so outstandingly – outstanding! Their dependencies on him allow him (Suarez) to lift his games. Steven Gerrard has passed his peak, he is now “salling into retirement”, and every other highly rated players in the Liverpool team turns out average performance. Mind you, Luiz Suarez is a good player, just not world class. He is made to look “world class” in a poor team.

Suarez’s behavior though is a case where even the seasoned football fans would scratch their heads and ask “what on earth was he thinking of at that moment?” Here you have a grown man, highly rated and playing well for his team, the next moment he decides to take a bite on opposition player! Or taking a dive in the days where television replays rules the game? Suarez can cried “foul” over the treatments and the bans he received but most football fans would ask if he ever consider ‘not doing’ what he did! After all this is not the first time he courted controversies before, he has been banned before. The English FA has rightly the justifications for their punishments as the premier league is one of the most watch games on this planet! It also did not help his case when Liverpool’s hierarchy failed to come up with the proper ‘damage control’ strategies.

At his age and his level Luiz Suarez will be Luiz Suarez. He aint gonna change! He can give you that edge when everything centre around him on the field. But he cannot guarantee you his sanity all the time. Good luck Arsene Wenger and Arsenal (if your £40 plus million succeed!).