Premier League

In the nine months that John W. Henrys’ NESV company have had ownership over Liverpool Football Club, they have spent in excess of £101 million and whilst a lot of attention has been drawn to the signing of players at hugely inflated prices- with the most notable of these being Andy Carroll and, to a lesser extent, Jordan Henderson- however there is a signing they have made, that especially when compared to the other, inflated , signings appears to be wonderful value for money. That signing came in the form of Luis Suarez.

Now before I continue, please can I say that £22 million for a player with no Premier League experience (especially when that player is required to replace one of Europe’s most prolific marksmen in recent years, in the form of Fernando Torres) appeared to be a risk. Despite his frightening record of 81 goals in 110 games for Ajax, his goal scoring statistics from Holland did not guarantee success in England- the Eredivisie is a league renowned for producing players with the most impressive of goal scoring records, who would then come to the Premier League and, ultimately, move on with their tails firmly between their metaphorical (goal-shy) legs. The obvious examples of these players would be Mateja Kezman and (Middlesbrough fans read on at your peril) Afonso “12.7million!??!” Alves.

These were players, who despite their obvious talent, appeared to be nothing more than “basic” goal-scorers, and found adaptation to English football difficult (even though some will say that Alves, especially, did show brief glimpses of his quality- a brace against Manchester United and a Last day of the season hat-trick against Manchester City). You only had to look at Liverpool themselves with Dirk Kuyt, in the two seasons before he joined the reds he scored 29 goals in the first and in the following season 22. Whilst on Merseyside Kuyt has never surpassed 13 goals.But despite his lack of Premier League goals, he is an example of a what can happen when an Eredivisie goal scorer make the switch to the Premier League- and have continued success (The main other example in the modern era, is of course, Ruud Van Nistelrooy- but he performed at such a level that it would unfair to draw those comparisons).  Even with the general trend that players in the Eredivisie can not do as well in England as they do in Holland, Suarez (even though he isn’t as fruitful in front of goal thus far) appears to be bucking the trend.

Like him or hate him-the later of which does become increasingly difficult despite consideration of that handball in the world cup quarter final or  that shameful moment of petulance, in which he bit PSVs Otman Bakkal. - you simply can not deny Suarez has the talent to be a huge success in the Premier League. You only have to look at some his attributes; a natural eye for goal, an impressive work rate (similar to that of the aforementioned Kuyt), he is deceptively good in the air for his size, as well as being undeniably quick. There is one attribute that stands out above all others: His feet. They are, without trying to take an Andy Gray overdose on hyperbole, brilliant and, with the possible exception of David Silva, they are the best in the League.  Suarez doesn’t just showboat either, he has used his skill to score- neatly rounding Asmir Begovic (despite doing all he could to not find the back of the net with the finish)- and also when creating goals- most notably against Manchester United, beautifully evading Rafael (twice), Smalling, Carrick and finally Wes Brown before putting the ball on a plate for Kuyt to set Liverpool on their way to an impressive win.

Suarez’ transfer fee also seems to be a much more astute deal, when you compare his transfer to Liverpool’s other transfer dealings within the NESV period. To put it bluntly, Suarez is a 0.62 of Andy Carroll, and his transfer fee is only £6million  greater than the one that brought Jordan Henderson to Anfield.  These stats appear to be remarkable when you consider that Suarez appears to be proven at the highest level (shown most notably by his excellent performances for Uruguay in South Africa) and yet still has the potential to become one of the Premier Leagues most potent attacking players. There is may be some uncertainty regarding where the Uruguayan will actually fit in to Liverpool’s revamped side, considering the players they have bought. Suarez is adaptable; he has the pace and trickery to play wide, the goal scoring ability and work-rate to play as a center-forward, and when played in a freer role (similar to the one he occupied at the back end of last season), we have all seen what he can do-and that was with only a short amount of time to adapt to the frantic nature of the Premier League. One thing is certain, Suarez has the talent and the potential to become the main spearhead Kenny Dalglishs’ Liverpool revival.