Luis Suarez had long ago demonstrated that he’s a fantastic striker. He had, for example, been the top scorer and won the best player award of the Eredivise in the 2009/2010 season, when he was playing for Ajax. Suarez also had great performances with the Uruguayan National team, leading them to the semifinals at the 2010 World Cup, and to the championship in the Copa América 2011 (he was awarded with the best player of the tournament prize). However, this season Suarez is demonstrating that he can be considered as one of the best strikers on the entire world.
The numbers speak for themselves: in eleven matches played so far in the Premier League (he missed the first five games of the season, due to a ban by the FA after biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic last season), he scored 17 goals, which means an average of 1.54 goals per game. Playing at home, he scored 12 goals in five matches (average of 2.4 goals per match), and he scored in every match. He has scored 17 of Liverpool’s 39 goals this season (43.5 percent). This performance makes him the top scorer of the Premier League, even though he missed the first five matches of the season. Suarez’ fantastic form has led Liverpool to second place, just two points behind Arsenal.
When the comparison with other top scorers arise, Suarez’ numbers are still the best. In Spain, both Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Diego Costa of Atlético de Madrid have scored 17 goals, but Ronaldo has played 15 matches, and Diego Costa 16.
In Italy, Giuseppe Rossi (Fiorentina) has scored 13 goals in 16 matches. In Germany, Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) has scored 11 times in 16 matches, while in France, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) has scored 14 times in 17 matches.
The numbers become more astonishing when one takes into account the fact that Suarez hasn’t taken any penalty kicks (Steve Gerrard executes them). Suarez compensates this by being a very complete player: he is excellent at free kicks (two goals in this season), and also a good header of the ball (three goals in the season).
In addition, Suarez is a player that always gives everything on the pitch; his teammate and Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard has said about him: “when he get’s into the pitch he transforms into a fighter, a winner”. Gerrard also spoke about the great moment of Suarez: “He’s the top scorer in the league now and he’s been incredible. I can’t put into words how good he’s been. If he doesn’t win an award this year, he’ll be the best player ever not to win an award” [Source: LiverpoolEcho.co.uk].
It’s because of this awesome performance that there are rumors about Real Madrid being interested in Suarez for next season, in order to replace Karim Benzema, who may go to Arsenal [source: Mundo Deportivo]. Last summer, they already attempted to buy him, but Liverpool’s pretensions (€ 40 million) were too high for Real Madrid, taking into account that they spent € 99 million on Gareth Bale.
For the next summer, Real Madrid will once again look to make an offer, and it seems that they are willing to spend up to €55 million. They would like to close the deal before World Cup takes place, because, if Suárez plays the World Cup at the level he’s playing nowadays, his price could skyrocket.
Finally, a question arises: Can Suarez lead Liverpool to the Premier League title? I think the answer is: surely, he can. He has to keep this level for the matches versus the biggest opponents, for example, against Manchester City and Chelsea, two matches that will take place before the end of the year. The fact is that he is a headache for the coaches that will face him, and even Roy Hodgson, the coach of England’s National team, and Cesare Prandelli, of Italy, may be thinking about how to stop him in the World Cup. Meanwhile, Liverpool and Uruguayan fans are getting more and more excited about Luis Suarez’ impressive form.
