No place like home: Liverpool's Luis Suarez is happy, settled and won't leave predicts boss Rodgers
No place like home: Liverpool's Luis Suarez is happy, settled and won't leave predicts boss Rodgers
"We've supported him when he’s been in turmoil and has had setbacks. He was committed to wanting to stay and work with the club"
Kop idol: Rodgers expects interest in Suarez but is confident of keeping him
John Powell
Liverpool are bracing themselves for another summer with Luis Suarez as the big trophy-hunters’ No.1 target.
But
even though he accepts every player has his price, Reds boss Brendan
Rodgers believes he will hang on to Anfield's superstar - just as he did
a year ago.
At the end of last season, the young manager’s first
task on arriving at Anfield was to deal with a flurry of bids for his
controversial striker, with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester
City all registering their interest.
Then, Suarez was swayed by the passion of the new manager, and the vision he set down for LIverpool's future.
A year later though, and with the Uruguayan
engulfed in fresh outrage after being banned for 10 matches for biting
Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, his future is again clouded in
uncertainty.
Rodgers remains defiant, with a simple message to clubs hoping to steal the star away from the Anfield side.
“Listen,
every player has their price but there’s certainly no pressure for the
club to sell him. We’re trying to build that bit of quality so he’s not
for sale,” he explained.
“I don’t have any doubts there will be interest in him this summer, because he’s up there.
“There’s
a small percentage of players who are world class and he’s in that
bracket, so I don’t think it will be too dissimilar to when I first came
in last summer, with clubs making their interest known.
“People
will want to take him, but I think we all recognise how integral he is.
The owners have been absolutely unequivocal in their resolve in terms of
wanting to keep him.
“I had a meeting with the owners when they came over and talked about lots of stuff and that was one of them.”
Ultimately
though, Liverpool accept the decision on Suarez’s future will rest with
the player himself, and that the chance to join a huge, world-renowned
club that can guarantee him Champions League football will be a powerful
temptation. Teething trouble: Suarez's infamous bite of Branislav Ivanovic
Worryingly for Liverpool fans, Suarez will spend next month
on international duty at the Confederations Cup - where he will meet and
mingle with top players from Spain and Italy.
For Rodgers, that
situation - with the opportunity for approaches from the likes of Real
Madrid, Barcelona and more - is out of his hands, but he believes the
stability and family atmosphere on offer at Anfield is important to the
forward.
“You can’t control that - people getting into his ear
while he’s away. These are professionals, and Luis has got a tournament
to play,” he explained.
“But I can’t worry about that. I know we
that as a club and me as a manager have supported him, told him when
he’s been right and when he’s been wrong.
“The supporters show their passion for him relentlessly so, as a club, I don’t think we can do any more.
“We
have supported him when he’s been in turmoil and when he’s had
setbacks, when there’s been traumas over the last couple of years. He
knows he did wrong.
“Yes, there was that initial period of shock
and anger at the beginning but a wee bit of reality has set now. I look
at him in training and he’s still working hard.
“He was committed
to wanting to stay and work with the club. I think he’s very happy here -
as a club we’re doing everything to keep him and all the players
content, and in the main I think they are.”
The fear of course,
even within Anfield, is that Suarez will decide the aggravation he has
created for himself with his outrageous behaviour is a reason to simply
to cut his losses and leave England.
But Rodgers remains confident
the crisis is over, and that Suarez will decide life on Merseyside is
sufficiently sweet for him to resist the lure of the Champions League
clubs for another summer. Golden boy: Suarez with wife Sofia, daughter Delfina and his award for being Liverpool's top scorer
John Powell
“This is a guy who lives his life for playing football - he’s
been brilliant. Apart from those first few days when I gave him a
period away, he’s come back and he’s got on with it,” the Reds chief
added.
“He goes away now with a chance to reflect, plays in a
tournament over the summer, and will join us after that. He will just
get his head down and work, take his punishment and move on.
“I
think where he’s happiest is with his mates in the team or with his
family. He just loves his football and I’m sure being away with Uruguay
will give him a focus and concentration.
“Obviously he had a
circumstance which made it extremely difficult for him, but I’ve seen
nothing to make me think anything other than he will want to stay.
“I’ve
been in contact with his agent, so I think he needs to go away, play in
the tournament, have a period of reflection and come back, raring to
go, to help us have a good season.”
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