Is Luis Suarez Now World’s Best Striker?

Luis Suarez is 30 today, but can the former Liverpool and current Barcelona striker now be considered the best No. 9 in the game? We asked our Liverpool and Barcelona correspondents for their thoughts.

Luis Suarez’s £65 million arrival at Barcelona was full of doubts. After biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, there were plenty of questions over whether he would be able to control his behaviour at Camp Nou.

How would his bad boy image on the pitch be perceived at a club whose star players in recent years — Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi — were described by Zlatan Ibrahimovic as “schoolboys” in his book? And if he did manage to jump those hurdles, would he be able to co-exist with Messi and Neymar? Or would too many cooks spoil the broth?

Answers to those questions were put on ice as Suarez wasn’t able to make his debut until October of his first season at the club due to FIFA’s four-month ban for the bite. When his big day eventually came, as the script writers would have it, it just so happened the Blaugrana were due at the Bernabeu for a Clasico against Real Madrid.

Things started well as Suarez laid on an assist for Neymar with almost his first involvement in the game, but Barca would go on to lose 3-1 and it would be weeks until Suarez’s first goal for his new club.

“When he first came you [journalists] said he was overweight; now you’re trying to find adjectives to describe how good he’s been,” Luis Enrique pointed out recently after the Uruguayan brought up 100 Barca goals in his 120th appearance for the club.

The first of that century came against APOEL in the Champions League in his sixth appearance. Few knew what was about to begin at the time, but he’s not stopped scoring since and has arguably developed into Europe’s best out-and-out striker.

Far from struggling to get on with Messi and Neymar, he’s struck up one of football’s best friendships on and off the pitch with his fellow South Americans — especially Messi. Having initially started on the right of the front three, a switch inside, with Messi coming wide, ultimately proved the turning point.

Suarez has been the perfect foil for the brilliance of Messi and Neymar. Despite the occasional loose touch and stray pass, his tireless running, strength and clinical finishing are nearly always rewarded. He was the top scorer (40) in Europe’s top five leagues last season and has won eight titles since moving to Catalonia in 2014.

Living in the city where he’s always wanted to be since his partner, Sofia Balbi, moved there as a teenager, Suarez at 30 is perhaps even better and even happier than Suarez at 20 could ever have imagined.

Liverpool supporters view Suarez’s time at Anfield with a rose-tinted outlook, given the many jaw-dropping moments he provided on the pitch. But the Uruguayan’s time on Merseyside was littered with controversy and disciplinary issues that provided plenty of headaches for those at the club.

Just less than a year after he swapped Ajax for Liverpool in a £22.7m deal in January 2011, Suarez was handed an eight-game ban after being found guilty by the Football Association of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in an FA Cup tie.

Liverpool stood by player and maintained his innocence throughout the whole ordeal, famously wearing t-shirts in support of him ahead of a fixture with Wigan Athletic. But the club were let down by Suarez as he refused to shake the hand of Evra when Liverpool next met United, just two months after the verdict.

That would prove not to be the only lengthy ban Suarez would receive for on-field disciplinary issues. Having already had previous for biting PSV’s Otman Bakkal at Ajax, Suarez received a 10-match ban when he bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in a fixture where Liverpool were trailing 2-1 on April 21, 2013. In true hero-villain style, Suarez would score a 97th-minute equaliser after the biting incident went unseen by referee Kevin Friend.

The suspension would carry over into the start of 2013-14 season. But before that, Liverpool would have deal with Suarez wanting to leave in the summer after Arsenal’s famous offer of £40,000,001 triggered a clause in his contract that, he believed, allowed him to leave.

Liverpool rejected the Gunners’ bid, insisting the clause did not force them to sell. Then-Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers banished Suarez to train with reserves, before he performed a U-turn and the striker went on to have the best season of his career at that point.

Suarez won the Premier League’s Golden Boot in 2013-14 with 31 goals and almost guided Liverpool to the title, but there would be a further controversy in the summer as he bit Chiellini at the World Cup and was banned for four months. Just 17 days later, he would move to Barcelona for £75m (Barcelona claimed it was £65m).

Liverpool would not have been able to keep the Spanish giants at bay, but there was a sense of inevitability at his departure given his numerous transgressions and long-held dream to play for the Catalan side. But when you consider the recent fees paid for Oscar (£60m), Gonzalo Higuain (£76m) and Paul Pogba (£89.3m), however, the amount looks a little on the low side when you take into account his success at the Camp Nou.

Clearly, he has matured since his time at Anfield and, without the controversy holding him back, has reached his full potential.