Ian Holloway’s Crystal Palace host Leeds today in search of a third successive win and their fifth in a row at home.
A win for the hosts could lift them in to the automatic promotion places if other results are kind to them and doing just that will be the perfect birtday present for Holloway, who celebrates his 50th next week.
Warnock’s Leeds can go within three points of a play-off place with a win, but they haven’t won any of their previous eight games on their travels.
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Ricky van Wolfswinkel claims his summer move to Norwich is ‘a dream’ and he is looking to make ‘great things happen’ at the club.
The 24-year-old Dutch hitman will complete his switch to Carrow Road on July 1 after the Canaries agreed an undisclosed fee with Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon and tied him down to a four-year deal at the end of last week.
Van Wolfswinkel has an impressive career goals tally of 82 in 188 appearances for Vitesse Arnhem, FC Utrecht and Sporting, and he is aiming to bring that to England and help Norwich progress up the Premier League in what will be their third season in the top flight next term.
He told the club’s official website: “It’s really an exciting time. I’m happy to be joining Norwich City and I’m looking forward to playing for the club. It has always been a dream of mine to play in England and in the Premier League and I’m even more excited that I can hopefully fulfil that dream at such a great club like Norwich City.
“This is the sort of club I need at this moment in my career. This is a club with great ambitions to become the team that they have been in the past in the top flight. Joining Norwich City is the perfect next step in my career.
“It’s a realistic club with great people both at the club and in the city. Next year will hopefully be a year to improve. We want to do even better than the team has done this year. We need to work extra hard to make that happen, and if we do that, then a team and a club like Norwich can make great things happen.”
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It goes without saying that fans are the heart of any football club. Paul Lambert’s declaration that the support of Aston Villa’s loyal disciples matched the passion of Champions League semi-finalists Borussia Dortmund is high praise indeed. Now if Lambert could get his side playing like Dortmund the threat of relegation would soon cease. With their Premier League status under serious threat the Midlands side have improved markedly to win three of their last six games to give themselves a fighting chance of survival. Results fell kindly for them at the weekend and victory over Sunderland would lift them five points above 18th placed Wigan and potentially above beleaguered Newcastle if they netted five or more. The race is most definitely on.
The Black Cats, meanwhile, are searching for a third consecutive win under new head coach Paolo Di Canio that would ensure they’ll be playing top-flight football next season. The Italian has triggered a stunning revival in his first month on Wearside taking six points from a possible nine, as well as guiding the Black Cats to a stunning Tyne-Wear derby victory a fortnight ago. With that much sought-after 40-point mark in their sights Di Canio and his player can’t afford to let up if they’re to reach it before time runs out.
Team News
Paul Lambert goes into the game with no fresh injury concerns with Gabriel Agbonlahor fully fit after he completed 90 minutes against Manchester United last week following a groin injury.
Sunderland have Craig Gardner back to face his former club after the midfielder completed a two-match ban. Phil Bardsley (ankle) is a doubt, while Connor Wickham misses out with a calf problem.
What the managers said…
“I’m not sure because you don’t know how other results go. But you won’t be far away from it. ‘It’s in our own hands, that’s the good thing. It would be different if we had to rely on other people but we don’t. You look after your own, and if we do that then we’ll see what happens. I don’t think you can (get too caught up in the permutations), then you start to deflect from what you want to do yourself.” Paul Lambert isn’t sure 40-points will be enugh for Aston Villa to survive (Daily Mail)
“It was a strange moment, a strange situation in time those three days [after becoming Sunderland manager. But he rang me and backed me all the way. He said, ‘Proceed because you have complete support from the board’. From there, I felt even more energy, I was even more focused and even more determined to get the best out of the team, and I believed that no matter what the split with fans, I would look to make them happy as quickly as I could.” Paolo Di Canio admits he feared the immediate sack after his political beliefs overshadowed his appointment at Sunderland (BBC Sport)
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Pre-match Statistic: Expect a feisty match at Villa Park! There have been five red cards in the last eight Premier League square ups between Villa and Sunderland.
With Arsenal in a fight for Champions League football, the Gunners know that victory against Wigan and Newcastle would guarantee a place in Europe’s elite competition for a 16th successive season. But with neighbours Tottenham just one point behind, Arsene Wenger knows that one slip-up could cost his side dearly and back in January, it wasn’t looking so positive for Arsene Wenger.
Just a few weeks into the new year, Arsenal were in 6th place and six points behind 4th. And back then there was another issue for Arsenal fans to worry about too – Theo Walcott. With the Englishman’s contract set to expire at the end of the season, there were questions over whether Walcott would decide to stay at the club. Rumours spread that Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City were all monitoring Walcott’s situation with the club, until on the January 18th, when the speedster agreed to a new three-year deal worth a £100,000-a-week.
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In the next two weeks we will know if Walcott has made a good decision to stay with the club, as we will know for certain who will be playing in the Champions League next season. But where could Theo be if he hadn’t of signed a new contract at the Emirates?
If he had accepted a move to Chelsea, the winger could all but be guaranteed Champions League football next season. He would be fighting for his place more than he is now at Arsenal, but Walcott could be able to say that next season he would be playing for the European champions, with Chelsea and Benfica ready to face each other in the Europa League final on Wednesday. Although he would be cup-tied for the final, it would highlight his new club’s ability to win trophies, something he’s never experienced at Arsenal.
Or what if Walcott had joined Manchester City instead? He would be sure of his team playing in the group stage of the Champions League next season, as well as having the intentions of winning the Premier League. But who could guarantee Walcott’s involvement in the side? After watching fellow Brit Scott Sinclair join the club, Theo has seen how players can be completely left out of Mancini’s first team plans. So he may have been at a club battling for the league, but he may not have done much to help.
The third club linked with Walcott was Liverpool, the team he followed as a child, and fell in love with. But it was clear to see that although the Reds have the ambition to climb back into the top four in Brendan Rodgers’ long-term plans, Liverpool currently don’t share the same realistic targets as any of Walcott’s fellow admirers. And although they would hope that Walcott would be tempted to join the team he supported as a small boy, Liverpool knew that realistically that wouldn’t happen.
But in the end, Walcott ignored in the interest shown in him by both Chelsea and Manchester City, and decided to stay with Arsenal. If the Gunners did miss out on the Champions League, Walcott may well be questioning his decision to stay with his beloved Arsenal. Even if the club do finish in the top four, next season will really determine if Theo really has made the right decision. The 24-year-old is still yet to win a trophy in his career. And as we all know, at the end of a footballer’s career, it’s all about showing the grandchildren your winners’ medals.
Arsenal will need to spend big, bringing in some top quality players if they are to have a chance of winning a trophy next season. Despite Arsenal’s slump away from their title wining best, Arsene Wenger suggested that it would just be for a few years, and that this summer he will finally have money to spend in the transfer window.
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But if Wenger doesn’t get his signings right this summer, he could be extending the club’s run to 9 years without a trophy, and could make Walcott, and a few other players, consider their future with the club.
Walcott has shown a lot of passion and faith in Arsenal to stay, but if Wenger and the board don’t repay that faith, then their speedy forward may have made a huge mistake in staying with the club.
Arsenal are on the verge of completing a deal to bring striker Yaya Sanogo to the Emirates Stadium from Auxerre on a free transfer.
Sanogo has impressed in Ligue 2 this season with eight goals in just seven games.
Auxerre had been keen to keep hold of the highly-rated 20-year-old but Sanogo has rejected a contract offer from the French side and is available on a free transfer.
The Gunners will have to pay some compensation for the forward as he is under the age of 23.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has already met with the player and is confident the deal will go through.
“It is in advanced stages but it is not done,” Wenger said, when asked about the deal on Friday.
Sanogo is a French Under-21 international and was linked with Arsenal in 2009 but decided to sign his first professional contract with Auxerre instead of moving to London, but it would seem as if the Gunners have been keeping tabs on his progress.
It remains to be seen as to whether the youngster will be involved in the first-team squad next season or whether Wenger will seek to send the striker out on loan to gain more first-team experience.
Many have fretted over the state of the England national team, with all hopes of the future seemingly resting on the shoulders of Arsenal’s injury-stricken ace Jack Wilshere.
But at the weekend, a new, young, English midfield talent emerged to rival the importance of the Gunners man in the Three Lions’ not too distant future in the form of Everton’s Ross Barkley. With shades of Wayne Rooney, the Toffees prodigy made his long-anticipated announcement of arrival to the Premier League scene with a belting effort from his weaker left foot that soared past helpless Norwich keeper John Ruddy at Carrow Road.
Perhaps it’s too soon to begin panning Barkley’s career before it’s fully taken off, but the sensational 25 yard, left-footed strike on Saturday was the type of goal that suggested a coming of age moment for the 19 year old, whilst his performance to boot was by all accounts exemplary.
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Despite being the youngest player on the pitch, Barkley was the most dominant, with an immense technical, physical and tactical display at the tip of Everton’s midfield. The England U21, who put Scotland to the sword in a six goal thumping last week, finished up with a pass completion ratio of 95%, had more shots on goal than any other player, recorded four successful dribbles through the middle of the park, and also put in three tackles.
It was a ferocious all-round display that deserved to be capped off with a goal worthy of future Premier League highlight reels, showing all the qualities that the Three Lions have been desperately lacking in over the past decade. Along with Wilshere, the Everton starlet possesses a unique ability that appears to evade other English midfielders in his capability to turn his marker and run at opposing back fours. Since the days of Joe Cole, the Three Lions have lacked pace, technique and intensity to venture forward in the middle of the park, with England’s imbalanced robust midfield well-known and documented.
And it’s not as if Barkley was merely thrown into the mix by new Goodison boss Roberto Martinez, as part of some sort of sink-or-swim examination. In 2011, ex-England defender Martin Keown anticipated that Barkley would become ‘one of the best players we’ll ever see in this country’, and former Evertonian Tim Cahill quipped that the Toffees youngster was the most talented player he’d ever worked with. Last term, Barkley impressed in the Championship during short loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds, recording four goals in 17 appearances throughout his time with both Yorkshire outfits.
Upon returning to Goodison in February, David Moyes gave the 19 year old an opportunity to shine against Arsenal, where the Toffees starlet looked smart, tidy and inventive in midfield, before narrowly missing a curling effort from long range.
Things would have come much sooner for Barkley, had it not been for a serious injury in 2010 on England Under 19s duty, breaking his leg in three places. But the slow recovery appears to be a blessing in disguise, with Martinez remarking after last weekend’s Man of the Match performance: “Ithink he is a lot older in terms of football experiences and I think his time with England has really helped him in terms of opening his mind. His loan periods have helped as well and going through a serious injury at a young age too. So I would say he is a lot ‘older’ than his age reflects.”
And the feeling of maturity beyond his years is shared by Everton captain Phil Jagielka, who now believes Barkley is taking his abilities more seriously: “He is thinking more like a professional footballer now instead of a kid just having a good time. He is also a fantastic lad. He is always trying and out there practicing and if he keeps going in the right direction, hopefully we will have quite a player.”
So we have a player who dons unbelievable technical ability with both feet, possesses that natural English power, robustness and aggression, has the confidence to take on his marker and drive through the middle of the park, finishes matches with 95% pass completion ratios for a total of 53 passes, but most importantly and vitally for any young athlete, appears to have already developed the temperament and mentality to succeed.
But what’s next for young Barkley? Well the test for any youth product seeking to transition to senior level is consistency, which cannot be proved or disproved in a single outing. Dominant displays week-in-week-out is too high an expectation physically and mentally for the 19 year old, but a sign that his Norwich performance wasn’t simply a one-off will be expected sooner rather than later. Having shown his potential however, especially in front of goal, Premier League defences will begin to take note of Barkley, and pay special attention to him.
Yet there are few better locations for Barkley to progress his game than at Everton. The Merseyside outfit’s limited finance and subsequent squad depth means that the midfielder will receive plenty of first team action over the coming season, especially if Marouane Fellaini departs for Manchester United before deadline day, whilst the recent appointment of Roberto Martinez at Goodison looks set to have an ameliorative effect on the youngster.
The Spaniard consistently brought through a series of promising youngsters during his time at Wigan, including the likes of James McCarthy and Callum Mcmanaman who are now turning the heads of major Premier League clubs, and Martinez’s planned philosophical revolution at Goodison Park, with a new technical and possession-based approach to compensate for the expected sales of Fellaini and Leighton Baines, could well have Barkley at the centre.
But whether the England junior is used sparingly or excessively this season, I have little doubt that Martinez’s influence and the style of play he insists upon will be of great benefit to Barkley’s progression as a footballer, and make him stand out against other young English talents.
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There’s already been a great furore in the English media surround Barkley after his showing at the weekend, and granted, the midfielder as proved nothing yet apart from his potential. But it’s difficult to not get excited about a young home-grown talent displaying such pedigree, especially amid what seems to be the new dark ages of the England national team.
But either way, it seems a young star is beginning to shine at Everton, and the whole country can look forward to not relying upon one single entity in Jack Wilshere when considering the Three Lions’ near future.
Will Ross Barkley rival Jack Wilshere’s importance to the Three Lions?
Last year’s Capital One Cup was one full of shocks and twists and turns as two sides that very few would have predicted to reach the last game, in Swansea and Bradford, contested the showpiece final at Wembley. In almost any other year the Swans would have been the ultimate fairy-tale story, however their meeting with League Two representatives saw their story take more of a back seat.
But, that should not lessen their sense of achievement, with the South Wales side capping a remarkable decade with a piece of major silverware. Not long ago Swansea were staring at life outside of the Football League, which may have seen their very future cast into serious doubt. Yet, sterling work off of the field and an adoption of a more continental approach on it saw the now Liberty Stadium-based side rise through the divisions to dine at the top table of English football.
In some ways their story is comparable to that of Southampton, who are quietly asserting themselves as genuine candidates to take the trophy to the South Coast this time around. The Saints may a little more of an illustrious history, but they themselves were looking directly into the abyss just a few short years ago. Financial peril saw administration strike and rapidly the white and red shirted side slid down to League One.
Just when they were at their lowest ebb, salvation came in the shape of Markus Liebherr. The Swiss billionaire – who passed away in 2010 – set about rescuing the club from spiralling debts ahead of a plan to move up through the divisions and back to the big time. They may have been forced to stay in League One for a season longer than was hoped for due to a point deduction, but successive promotions saw Premier League football make a return to Hampshire after a seven year absence.
Like Swansea – who made it into the top flight a year before them – the Saints have firmly established themselves as a genuine force and now see their next step as securing silverware and a path into European competition. This season presents a genuine chance to achieving this, with a trip to out-of-form Sunderland all that stands between them and a spot in the final eight. Add into the mix the fact the big names such as Liverpool have already been knocked out and that one of Arsenal and Chelsea will suffer the same fate this time around and Southampton are all of a sudden firmly in the running.
Mauricio Pochettino – who succeeded Nigel Adkins earlier this year – has got his side playing a distinctive brand of football, which is not dissimilar to that of Swansea. St Mary’s Stadium has played witness to an alteration under the Argentine, who has moulded his team into a high tempo and bustling outfit with an abundance of quality in the final third. Big name arrivals such as Victor Wanyama and Pablo Osvaldo have seen a number of top clubs really sit up and take notice of Southampton, who are considerably closer to the top of the Premier League table than the bottom with around a quarter of the games having passed.
As well as fine form, a meteoric rise and a clear philosophy, Southampton have their very own talismanic attacker in the shape of Rickie Lambert. Swansea last season were buoyed by the incredible form of Michu, who spearheaded their run to Wembley and eventual 5-0 demolition of Bradford. Although Lambert is a different proposition to the silky Spaniard, he is still, arguably, just as effective. The new England star – who has carried his goalscoring form onto the international stage – has been the Saints’ talisman since his move to the club while in League One. Almost 100 goals in under 200 outings justify the £800,000 paid for his signature from Bristol Rovers – a large fee in the third tier – and he certainly has the ability and know-how to add a few more to his tally in the Capital One Cup.
The Capital One Cup is known for its unpredictable nature, which may see Southampton overcome the odds this season to cap their astonishing rise to back to the top of the English game. Only time will tell, but all the ingredients are in place for Adam Lallana to make the journey up Wembley’s iconic steps to lift the first trophy of the season this winter.
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Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has said his team will carry on scoring goals after their 5-0 thrashing of Blackburn in the FA Cup last night, Sky Sports reports.
The ‘Citizens’ have now scored an amazing 99 goals this year and are not expected to release their feet off the gas anytime soon.
In last night’s fixture Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko grabbed two each, and only 50 seconds on his return from injury Sergio Aguero scored another.
The Blue half of Manchester have struck 63 goals at the Etihad and are already on the course of breaking several goal-scoring records this season.
Pellegrini insists he will continue playing in the same manner in the pursuit of trophies.
“It’s an important amount of goals,” he said.
“I repeat when I arrived here it was important to try and win a trophy but in the way this team must play and it’s important for the fans to come here and know that we are going to try and score the most amount of goals we can.
The former Malaga boss could have taken it easy when three goals up, but decided to field free-scoring striker Sergio Aguero instead.
“We continue playing a style of football that is very important. Not to score just one goal and try to keep the ball and not give possession to the other team.
“It’s more easy to go backwards with 10 players and try to counter-attack with two or three players but it’s not my philosophy, it’s not the philosophy that this club wants to play.
“We continue to try and play during 90-95 minutes every game, independent of the score we try to be a balanced team, an attractive team.”
Manchester City will hope to continue their scoring streak against Cardiff in Saturday’s Premier League clash.
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Arsenal are top of the Premier League – does it really matter how they got there?
There are 20 teams in the Premier League. If the basis of an argument against a title challenger is that their wins against the lesser teams in the league are worthless, then why not put into motion the concept of a European Super League and rid ourselves of such banal discussion?
It seems Arsenal can do no right. Yet they’ve fared better than the other “heavyweights” in the title race who have tripped up multiple times by teams well below their class.
Arsenal were said to be just about where they deserved to be over the past three or four seasons: the club’s spend and quality of player placed them round about fourth in the Premier League, third at best. Now that they’ve invested heavily in a star name and have the base for a consistent title threat – albeit with one or two short – isn’t top of the league, or at least serious title contender, about right?
Manchester City and Chelsea, conversely, have fallen against the smaller teams in the league. Had it not been for a mistake by the officials – another one – Chelsea would have lost at home this season to West Brom. Manchester City, imperious at home with a record branded as something for the entire league to show off against the powers of Europe, were incapable of holding their lead against Cardiff City – a team, recently promoted side from the Championship, whose future is arguably uncertain with Vincent Tan as owner.
Instead of questioning Arsenal’s credentials, or lack thereof apparently, shouldn’t we be hammering Chelsea and Manchester City for falling behind a team who, without logic, are incapable of winning the Premier League?
Liverpool’s situation in comparison to Arsenal is strange. Both teams share similarities, both taking a huge leap from where they were last season, but also a case could be made that they are indeed quite dissimilar.
It’s not entirely correct to say it’s a criticism of Liverpool; rather they’ve benefited from a lack of midweek fixtures, enabling them, for much of the first half of the season, to keep key players fresh for weekend Premier League games. Brendan Rodgers’ handling of certain spiky situations has been first class, and his faith in Daniel Sturridge has been greatly rewarded.
But Liverpool are still in a building phase. The squad is short of quality in certain areas, notably with a need for more goals beyond just the two primary forwards. Arsenal, arguably, are not the complete package yet either, but they’re further along the road than Liverpool. Arsenal are short by one or two; in Liverpool’s case, it wasn’t too long ago that Brendan Rodgers bemoaned the lack of depth following a loss at Hull. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be in the mix as contenders and at the very least one of the favourites to finish in the top four.
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But the larger point is that teams shouldn’t be questioned how they got to where they are now. Why boast of the strongest or most competitive league in Europe – of which there is great irony because many seem to loathe the idea of a different title winner in Arsenal – when the next minute small teams count for very little when beaten by a title contender? If we’re going to put so much emphasis on the worthlessness of points picked up from, say, Cardiff, who Arsenal beat with late goals on New Year’s Day, then why not make it two points from a win from those teams and three for just the top four or five in the league? A ridiculous idea, right?
Arsenal are top of the Premier League at present. It’s January. Questions about their legitimacy could have been asked in October, as they were, but surely it’s now time to throw them out the window. Yes, Arsenal may not finish first because of the unpredictability of this season, but they are currently leading the race. There should be absolutely no doubt that they are firm title challengers.
Eleven months and three days ago, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez threw away his chances of claiming the Premier League’s Player of the Year award with one moment of absolute madness. He decided to take a bite of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic’s shoulder, in front of a 45,000-strong Anfield crowd, countless television cameras and a live world-wide audience reaching well into the multi-millions.
Already a controversial figure in England, the Uruguayan’s nibble on Ivanovic’s upper arm confirmed the opinion that such a provocative and self-admitted amoral player should not be allowed near the most coveted individual accolade in English football, regardless of his 23-goal haul and talismanic attacking displays for the Reds that without, would probably have left Brendan Rodgers fearing for his job last summer.
The award went to Gareth Bale instead, just a matter of months before his world-record-breaking £86million move to Real Madrid.
But when the Premier League’s peers gather together at the end of the season to decide who should claim the prize this term, few would be surprised at a near-unanimous verdict in Suarez’s favour.
The fact the 27 year-old has lasted an entire year without mortifying the English public is an achievement in itself that deserves some form of trophy-based reward, but Suarez’s expected overwhelming majority vote is sourced in the manner in which he’s used performances on the pitch and nothing else to answer his critics this season.
The Liverpool striker, despite missing the first five games of the campaign through his biting ban, is currently leading the Premier League’s scoring charts with an astonishing 28 goals in 25 appearances, including hat-tricks against West Brom, Norwich City and most recently Cardiff. But more than simply a lethal striker of your Andy Cole variety, the Uruguay star has claimed eleven assists – working in close attacking tandem with strike-partner Daniel Sturridge – and by Whoscored.com’s reckoning, has notched up 13 Man of the Match awards. That’s an average of more than 0.5 MoM’s per appearance.
But enough of signing Luis Suarez’s praises – no matter how much statistical evidence I can find in a finite amount of time to prove so, no matter how fruitfully eloquent I could explain how the Kop icon synergizes the roles of an attacking playmaker and natural poacher so perfectly and still works consistently harder than any forward on the continent, by now it goes without saying that Luis Suarez is a world-class talent, and if we are being truthful, a world-class talent that deserves a greater stage than Anfield.
So, like current Player of the Year award-holder Gareth Bale, who understandably ditched White Hart Lane for the Bernabeu just months after claiming the Premier League’s highest individual honour, does Suarez owe it to himself to answer his higher calling at the end of the season?
Don’t get me wrong – Liverpool is a fantastic club with an enormous history, and after their four-year absence from the Champions League has once again become an incredibly exciting institution to be a part of. This season, Brendan Rodgers has created a sense of fearlessness in his players that has not only revived the Reds back to the European status a club of their size and prestige truly deserve (providing Liverpool’s season doesn’t enter into an unforeseeable capitulation in its last eight Premier League fixtures) but furthermore completely rewritten the balance of power at the Premier League’s summit.
Fuelled by the combined 47 goals of Sturridge and Suarez, the Reds are currently second in the league, just three points behind table-toppers Chelsea with a game in hand – anything could happen between now and May-time. And although I remain pessimistic that the Anfield side will be able to mimic their role in the title race next season, their continuous momentum under Brendan Rodgers suggests that the days of eighth-place finishes and Europa League football are now well behind Liverpool. There are certainly worse places to be than the red half of Merseyside right now – the red half of Manchester for example – and considering Liverpool’s enormous improvement this season, silverware in an auxiliary form could not be far off.
But this is not a case of the Fernando Torres ilk, a case of a talented player leaving Liverpool for another club with a greater chance of silverware success after some unprecedented money being put on the table. This is a case of arguably the best player in the world right now – certainly the best player outside of Ballon D’or monopolisers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – joining a club, be it Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, that despite Liverpool’s incredible history domestically and in Europe, are no longer directly comparable to in terms of prestige and historical significance.
These are clubs that reach the semi-finals of the Champions League without fail almost every season – the kind of matches of immense magnitude and honour that a player of Suarez’s quality should be involved in. These are clubs whose fortunes, unlike Liverpool’s, do not depend upon a core of quality players and a talented manager alone. These are clubs that define players in the context of historical hindsight. These are clubs where trophies and silverware are a way of life, not a rare, almost miraculous occurrence.
And it’s not as if Suarez still owes something to Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers or the fans. Agreed, the Anfield side provided the Uruguayan the platform to impress that others wouldn’t when they invested £20million in the former Ajax star back in 2011. Subsequently, you can certainly argue that the club deserves the 27 year-old’s loyalty after unwaveringly standing by him amid every controversial episode – who can forget Kenny Dalglish’s ill-fated ‘Support Suarez’ t-shirt campaign.
But Suarez had the opportunity to depart from Merseyside last summer; he could have taken his, albeit, rather classless, demands to leave during the Confederations Cup a step further; he could have insisted upon an exit when Arsenal made their £40million plus a quid bid, which it turns out, did activate the South American’s release clause; like Gareth Bale, he could have declared he’d never play for Tottenham again; like Gareth Bale, he could have refused to turn up to training.
Yet the star striker stayed put for another year, and in return has provided Liverpool fans with their most memorable Premier League campaign since 2009. In terms of individual contribution, Suarez’s efforts this term parallel that of Steven Gerrard’s in the Reds’ famous 2005 Champions League final, even if, unlike that unforgettable night in Istanbul, the Reds’ current season doesn’t end with silverware.
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But of greater significance than the allure of trophies is the fact Suarez is now 27 years of age. By my reckoning, in the modern transfer climate, that gives the Uruguayan a shelf-life of two more transfer windows before his value to the European powerhouses begins to quickly corrode.
Liverpool fans will view that critique as a blessing – should Suarez’ many suitors be put off by his lack of longevity, that only cements the Uruguayan’s opportunity to immortalise himself as a Kop legend, on par with the likes of Ian Rush, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Kevin Keegan and Dalglish. Certainly an enormous honour and achievement even if it can’t be represented in material reward.
But in the process, that would hold back a few-in-a-generation, world-class talent from realising the historical acclaim he truly deserves. Suarez will already go down in Merseyside folk law as one of the greatest strikers Anfield has ever seen. Now he owes it to himself to become one of the greatest strikers the world has ever seen – before it’s too late.