The Luis Suarez Conundrum: When the Betrayer Feels Betrayed

That there’s no loyalty in football is a fact that is well documented and every passing season, we see top players renege on their promises and push for a move from their clubs to those they feel give them better chances of realizing some apparent dreams.

But while some find the success they were looking for, others put up with frustration galore. Liverpool’s failure to qualify for Champions League football has seen the club suffer not just in terms of financial implications but also on players coming in and leaving. They have not only been missing some prime targets every transfer window but the club’s top players are always being linked with a move to other “bigger” clubs, Champions League being the yardstick of determining the bigness.

That Luis Suarez is one of the top players in the modern game is undisputed. That he deserves to play in the Champions League, any modern footballer’s ultimate dream, is equally undeniable. However, you get the feeling that the explosive Uruguayan played a part, a big part, in contributing to Liverpool’s failure to qualify for the world’s topmost club football tournament.

Be it serving a ban for racial abuse or serving even a longer one for biting an opponent, the man nicknamed El Pistolero should know better than to demand a move from a club that stuck by him time and again even when he dragged his name and the reputation of his employers through the rubble.

Granted, he has not signed a lifetime contract with the Merseyside club but one more season to help push the club to the top would do him, the club and its fanatic supporters a world of good because am sure Liverpool are currently not as far off as they were last season.

The 26-year-old’s main reason for wanting to leave once was to get away from the meddlesome English media  who have apparently been too naïve to separate his private life from the fame that burdens a man of his status’ back, never mind he has been keen to haul himself into controversy at the slightest of provocation.

Suddenly, that reason has changed into wanting to play Champions League football, something am sure has been driven by Real Madrid’s silent treatment of their interest in him. That the Uruguayan sees Arsenal, a Premier League rival, as an option is not only unprofessional and disrespectful to his employers but shows a player with wanting character and despicable personality.

But Liverpool have been in this situation before with Fernando Torres who forced a move to Chelsea sending the Reds into a panic buy which saw £35 million being splashed on Geordie Andy Caroll, a man who would prove to be a major flop given his price tag.

Suarez’ situation looks the same, only that the Fenway Sports Group-owned club look to have better control of the situation this time and won't be held at ransom. Two options are available; either keep the man quickly earning the tag “traitor”, or ship him out of Liverpool and OUT OF ENGLAND when and only when the club’s, not his, valuation is met.

Methinks the latter is more preferable. For all the talent the Salto-born lad has, the nutmegs and dribbles and fight he brings to the field, his weaknesses are many. When pressed about Wayne Rooney’s situation at Manchester United, the club’s manager David Moyes responded by saying “You don't need to convince anyone to play for Manchester United." The same rule should apply at Anfield.

Liverpool would then need to go into the market and convince a top striker in the shape of Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa to join the club. Option two would be to unleash a gem out of nowhere with the money received from his sale. Either way, a decision will have to be made as soon as possible.

Selling to Arsenal is not an option though.

And That's thesteifmastertake!!