88 THE PREM ERA
STUNNING TRANSFERS
£65m
Liverpool to Barcelona
Summer 2014Suarez’s departure from the Premier
League was not exactly a surprise, but
it did cap an extraordinary year for the
Uruguayan goal machine. Not long after
arriving in Barcelona for £65 million, the
striker was presented with the European
Golden Shoe for his performances for
Liverpool in 2013-14.
Words: Sid LoweSuarez scored 31 goals for Liverpool last
season, none of them penalties. He also
got12 assists. And all that despite missing
the start of the season through suspension.
But Liverpool did not win their first title in
two decades as their challenge effectively
ended in the penultimate game of the
season with a 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace.
At the end of the game, Suarez pulled
his shirt over his head and sobbed.
Much worse followed. An injury meant
that he only just made it to the World Cup.
He played his first match in a month against
England and scored twice in a 2-1 victory,despite not being fully fit. Then came the
game against Italy and the infamous bite on
Giorgio Chiellini. Two games, the two sides
of Luis Suarez. In just four days he’d gone
from one extreme to the other. This could
have been remembered as his World Cup;
many will now remember it like that, and
for the wrong reason.
The subsequent four-month ban that
came his way did not, however, prevent
Barcelona signing him. Within days, a deal
had been agreed for the 27-year-old to
move to the Camp Nou.
During the Golden Shoe award ceremony,
Suarez’s wife was called onto the stage and
asked to say a few words. “This is a nice
moment at the end of a hard year,” she said.
Suarez himself admitted: “I thought I
had ruined my career. After what happened
at the World Cup I spoke to my wife, I
reflected, and I accepted reality. I began
to relax after I had said sorry. And it was
just then that Barcelona arrived. When
Pere [Guardiola, Suarez’s agent] called,
I started crying. I was scared that the
club would back off because of the
repercussion that the incident provoked.”
The award of the ESM Golden Shoe
functioned as a marker of a new start, as
well as celebrating the previous season –a season which showed the best of Luis
Suarez. His tally of 31 goals equalled the
record of Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan
Shearer for most goals in a 38-game
Premier League campaign.
But for now, Suarez is only looking
forward. “I have learnt that I have to be
conscious of the fact that the spotlight is
on me and accept my mistakes. Sometimes
the desire to win works against you.
“But what I want to do now is leave it
all behind me and look to the future.”Luis SUAREZ
“I have to be
conscious of the
fact that the
spotlight is on
me...sometimes
thedesiretowin
works against you”