It has been confirmed that Arsenal have had a bid somewhere in the region of £30million for Suarez rejected, Brendan Rodgers himself has discussed it. Since that initial bid, nothing else of any certainty seems to have happened.
Whether or not Arsenal will land Suarez is yet to be seen, with Liverpool’s valuation of the striker seemingly rising by the day, with Rodgers’ asking price now standing at a staggering £55million.
As high a price as Rodgers may demand, a bid at around £40million would seem to be enough to tempt Liverpool into selling Suarez, particularly now that it is believed there may be a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave for that price, and that he would welcome a move to the Emirates.
But If Arsenal were to acquire the Uruguayan’s services, what would the implications be? Like many big money transfers there are always pros and cons, but Suarez’s leave a little more to think about.
Suarez is an exceptionally talented footballer, particularly in and around the box where he causes defenders endless problems and has the ability to finish as well.
Last season he netted 23 premier league goals, and was in the top three best players of the season, along with Robin Van Persie and Gareth Bale, at least in my opinion anyway.
Arsenal need a player like Suarez, who can finish almost any chance and change a game in an instant, much like Van Persie did the season before last. Do not assume that this is a sly attempt at bashing Olivier Giroud, I like him a lot, but he needs to be challenged and at the moment, despite having a good first season, he isn’t clinical enough to lead Arsenal’s attacking line.
Unfortunately, as good as the pros sound, the cons are not something that can be overlooked and swept away, they are rather prominent.
In the 2010 World Cup, he infamously claimed that the ‘Hand of God’ now belonged to him after his goal line handball denied Ghana a goal. Ghana then went on to miss the penalty after Suarez had been sent off and Uruguay won the shoot-out to progress to the semi finals.
The first of two cannibalistic incidents occurred during his time at Ajax, when he bit PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder.
Following his move to Liverpool it wasn’t long before he was headline news again for the wrong reasons. The racist incident involving himself and Patrice Evra saw the Liverpool man handed an eight-match ban and a fine.
Then, most recently in 2013, Luis succumbed to his cannibalistic urges once more as he attempted to take a chunk out of Branislav Ivanovic’s arm in Liverpool’s clash with Chelsea. Somehow he escaped punishment.
There will be many Arsenal fans, along with fans of every other club in the premier league who have berated Suarez for his wrongs, and who will have had more than a harsh word to say about him several times during his time at Liverpool, myself included. But football fans are of a fickle nature.
Personally, I would welcome him to Arsenal. Capricious and undeniably talented would be the two terms I would use to describe Luis Suarez. If we do sign him, I hope Arsène Wenger has it in him to control him.