With speculation continuing to circle
around the future of Liverpool forward Luis Suarez, Reds manager Brendan
Rodgers is sure to have looked through the market for possible replacements and
will have been worried with what he found. The club’s stance has always been
that Suarez is not for sale but Rodgers has also conceded that every player has
his price and if Liverpool receive an offer in the £50-60mil region they are
sure to seriously consider it, especially if the bid comes from a foreign club.
While some believe that Liverpool could
build a potentially better squad without Suarez with the fee the club would
receive for his transfer, a quick glance at the quality of players available in
the transfer market this summer means that it will be no easy task finding the
right players to replace a key player in Suarez. Most quality attackers that
were available this summer have already been snapped up by Manchester City,
Monaco, PSG and Napoli, with the talents of Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic,
Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez, Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuain already
changing clubs. Other talents such as Jackson Martinez, Hulk, Stephan El
Shaarawy and Christian Benteke all have either no interest in leaving their
current club, or have no interest in joining a club that cannot provide
Champions League football.
Even players Liverpool were linked with
throughout the window have moved on, with Kevin Gameiro transferring from PSG
to Sevilla, and Roberto Soldado agreeing a move from Valencia to Tottenham
Hotspur earlier in the week. The later it gets in the transfer window, the more
tapped out the market will be in terms of talent that is realistically
attainable. That is why keeping Suarez, or at least resolving his future
immediately, is extremely important.
The central striker position is not
going to be a problem area if Suarez leaves. Liverpool already have Daniel
Sturridge as a central striker, with Iago Aspas and Fabio Borini waiting in the
wings should the England forward sustain any injuries. The problem will be the
lack of creativity in the side without Suarez. While Philippe Coutinho has been
a revelation in a creative sense since joining the club in January, a club
hoping to break into the Champions League positions needs more than one
creative attacker in the side. Suarez has been a constant creative spark in the
last few years, often creating goals out of seemingly impossible situations. If
the club is to lose a player of his quality, the entire creative burden will
fall on Coutinho, which is a huge responsibility on young shoulders.
Ideally the club would replace Suarez
with a versatile forward, someone who could play on his own up front while also
having the ability to play either wide right or wide left – something that is
extremely important when signing players to play in a 4-3-3 formation. Suarez
played as the main striker for much of last season out of necessity, with
Liverpool failing to add striking depth at the end of the summer transfer window
and Borini sustaining a number of serious and lengthy injuries. Suarez proved
he could play such a role with aplomb, scoring the majority of Liverpool’s
goals in the process. However, Suarez also had equally great levels of success
while playing as a wing forward for Ajax, and even when he played just off
Sturridge in the second half of last season.
A player who is adept at playing so many
different positions effectively is not rare in today’s game, but it is rare in
this summer’s market. Players are constantly changing and adapting their
positions to find ways to fit into a side where maybe their favored position is
already occupied. Strikers are constantly used as wingers; midfielders are
constantly used as full-backs, while center-backs often deputize in defensive
midfield. However, with the market already drained of talent, finding players
to replace the versatile and world-class Suarez will prove difficult.
Liverpool recently submitted a bid for
Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa, but sources within the club insist that
the move has no bearing on the future of Suarez, which should be true.
Liverpool were pursuing Mkhitaryan earlier in the transfer window as a support
player for Suarez, not a replacement. This only reinforces the suspicion that there
is money to spend without selling Suarez, and that the club were always in the
market for an attacking player who could score goals from deep. 20 goals in 44
games last season for Atletico Madrid from a deeper position where he was
supporting Falcao is an impressive return from the combative and aggressive
Costa. If the transfer does go through as expected, he will certainly bring
something to the team, but he will not be a replacement for Suarez.
With such few realistic targets in the
market as a replacement for Suarez, one possible player who could be available
is Udinese forward Luis Muriel. The striker has suffered his fair share of
injury problems throughout the last few seasons, but at the age of 22 he still
has plenty of room to grow. Muriel scored 11 goals in 15 starts (22 appearances
overall) for Udinese last season and shared the award for Serie A Young
Footballer of the Year for 2012 with AC Milan starlet El Shaarawy. Muriel has
been compared to the Brazilian Ronaldo and the similarities are definitely
there even if the Colombian still has a lot of developing to do before he can
accurately be mentioned in the same breath as the Brazil legend.
The easiest solution would be to keep
Suarez for another season and sell him next summer should Liverpool fail to
qualify for the Champions League, allowing the club to re-evaluate the market
once again – hopefully with a better outcome. His appetite for the game and his
street-fighter demeanor mean that he is not likely to sulk throughout the
season should he be forced to stay, so for once keeping an unhappy player may
pay dividends for the Reds. The Uruguayan signed a new long-term contract last
August and with there being no upgrades or replacements in the market,
keeping the unsettled superstar is looking a real possibility.
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