Sunday, January 08, 2012

£30m Suarez Race

Liverpool’s bad-boy Luis Suarez is Europe’s £30million wanted man.

Top clubs on the continent are queuing up to offer the Uruguayan ace, currently serving an eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra, an escape route from his Premier League hell.

La Liga leaders Real Madrid, loaded French outfit Paris St-Germain and Serie A giants Inter Milan and Juventus would all be interested in taking Suarez, 25 later this month, away from Anfield in the summer.

And that means Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is bracing himself for a major battle to keep hold of his inspirational striker beyond this season.

Although publicly the Reds insist Suarez a £24m signing from Ajax this time last year, is not going anywhere, privately it is a very different story.

There are growing fears inside the club that the furore surrounding the player’s racist clash with Man United defender Evra back in October will drive him out of the English game.

Last week Liverpool opted not to appeal the lengthy ban meted out on Suarez by the FA – in a desperate effort to stem the huge criticism being levelled at both themselves and their hitman.

The club’s unwavering support of Suarez – also fined £40,000 over the Evra incident – and his refusal to say sorry directly to the French left-back, has caused uproar in the game.

The fact Liverpool allowed their players and manager to wear T-shirts backing Suarez, even though the case with Evra was still ongoing, angered observers.

Now, when he returns next month, against Spurs on February 6, it seems inevitable Suarez, with 12 goals in 33 Liverpool games, will be targeted with non-stop stick by rival supporters.

Five days later, Liverpool travel to Old Trafford to face United for what is sure to be an explosive clash on and off the pitch.

Yet, while Suarez expects to be on the receiving end from United fans, it will be the level of abuse he gets at other grounds for the rest of the season that will decide whether he feels he has a future in England.

Mark Lawrenson, a friend and ex-Liverpool colleague of Kop boss Dalglish, believes the Reds face a crucial few months trying to hang on to Suarez.

BBC pundit Lawro said: “If you are Liverpool what you don’t want to do is put Suarez in a position where he thinks he can’t possibly continue to play in England.

“From that point of view, they have to be very, very careful in terms of what, going forward, they do with Luis.

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