The
day is 2nd February 2011.The wounds of the manner of Fernando Torres's exit are
still fresh in the hearts of the Reds fans at Anfield. The match is against
Stoke City and despite dominating the match, the Reds are still struggling to
break the deadlock. Anfield is quieter than usual, still having the fear due to
the existing mediocrity left by Roy Hodgson.
Reds
manager Kenny Dalglish orders the future Liverpool hero, Luis Suarez to warm up
for his debut, which results in Anfield cheering for their new signing.
After
the hour mark he came on as a substitute and scored via Dirk Kuyt through ball
to double the lead. The Kop went wild as the remaining season continued with
the Uruguayan's trickery and skillful style of play.
It
looked like Anfield has replaced their former idol with an even better player,
Luis Suarez. Optimism surrounded the Reds, as there were encouraging signs of
taking back the club to where they belonged.
Alas,
the next season was to be a disappointing one as the Reds failed to surround
the Uruguayan with similar or equal abilities. A 8th place finish, with only 14
wins and a total of 47 goals, coupled with controversial incidents which
dragged the club through a racism row due to the hot headed Uruguayan.
There
were noises about a departure of Suarez to a "bigger" club, but the Uruguayan
chose to be part of Liverpool's new team under new manager Brendan Rodgers, who
took charge of Liverpool after the disappointed 2011-2012 season from Swansea
City. In 2012-2013 season, the whole team was set up to the abilities of the
striker who flourished under him and scored 30 goals in all competitions, having
narrowly missed out for top scorer due to another controversial incident for
biting Chelsea's defender Ivanovic. The most decorated club in England's name
was dragged through the mud again, but the club stood by him again. Liverpool
finished the season strongly and the fans hopeful that their best player would
remain, atleast for another season, for repaying the loyalty the club had shown
to him due to his antics.
But
alas as they say, no loyalty exists in football anymore. The indications begun
when he left for national duty at the Confederations Cup where he blamed the
English media in numerous interviews for making his personal life miserable and
painting him as the bad guy.
Fans
were shocked, many turned against him. It was a conventional trick to engineer
a move to his preferred destination Real Madrid. The Spanish giants were not
interested in such a controversial figure and as the summer progressed the
rumors to Arsenal surfaced. Two bids, one after another, one a joke of 40m+1
were lodged and the Uruguayan was desperate to push through a move to London, so
much so that he begun to use the same media to push through a move and also
requested assistance from the PFA being no stranger to legal action, that he
blamed for his desire to quit England. This highlights the hypocrisy in the
character of this man, who was worshipped and praised by all Liverpool fans in
his controversial two and half years.
Credit
to the Liverpool hierarchy, for maintaining their stance to not sell their best
player to a direct rival.
But
the important question is where does the Uruguyan stand now as he was forced to
stay at Liverpool? The same hero or a fallen idol like Torres?
The
possibility of even considering legal action against Liverpool and directly
using the media to make false accusations cannot be forgiven. He may score
another 30 goals again this term, but he has lost all the respect that he
earned. Fernando Torres, atleast never took such an extent to force a move.
So
why should Luis Suarez be forgiven? Be harsh as it may sound, even if Liverpool
qualify for the Champions League this season, he is not going to stay after this
season. There will be similar tactics or even worse by him next summer to force
a move, as we have learned about the dual face of this player.
Any
Liverpool fan who still considers Suarez a hero is a hypocrite himself.
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