Luis Suárez

[Mostar]

It's a lot of money, but it isn't a gamble. In our situation we'd be mad not to offer him a vastly improved contract.

Even 200k per week is not what he would earn at other top clubs or what player of his qualities certainly deserves.

He is one of the world's best and not only he is a huge difference maker he is also incredibly resiliant to injuries, iron man if you will, and that you rarely can find.

If we could keep him around for few years and bring few top quality improvements in January and in the summer we could really challenge for top honours on multiple fronts.

I love him.

[Frenchie]

It's the Spanish form of the French name, Louis. Pronounced the same. Think the origin stems from Latin.

not pronounced the same..Spanish (Latin American) Luis ( Lou- iss) French Louis (Lou-eee)

[Red_Polo]

not pronounced the same..Spanish (Latin American) Luis ( Lou- iss) French Louis (Lou-eee)

Amazing to think really. I suppose it's much like John and Juan are pronounced ever so subtly different.

[Mostar]

@RorySmithTimes
At what point do we look at Luis Suarez the player, and not Luis Suarez the man? Cue shouting in 5, 4, 3... http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/11071 …

@RorySmithTimes
First reaction to that piece, by the way, is: "at what point does the world forgive Hitler?" I love how people keep things in perspective

[barnes10]

It's important in a lot of ways:

Tells other top quality that we will pay the wages for the best players - spurs don't do this do they for instance.
A new contract with those wages means we can stick in an 80m+ fee clause if he does want to leave.
Oh and if it's the kind of wages the likes of Rooney and the man city boys have been on for years then he's more than worth it. He is the best player in the league after all

As long as it's performance (and good behaviour) based and rewarding him for this brilliance then I've no issue with it. If he gets us into CL and is the anchor around which a title winning team is built then frankly, it's great value.

If we didn't do this and did just sell him, even for 60m, then surely it means we're a selling club.

[EwarWoo]

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/11071?cc=3436

Good article. We're obviously biased but most on here seem to agree.

[Vermilion]

Led me to this one. The imperious stats just keep coming.

The last paragraph of this though is probably correct, so it's good we have Sturridge, however, i think we could do with another who finds the net with regularity.

Luis Suarez scores and makes teammates better.

Despite missing the first five games of the Premier League season because of a suspension for biting Branislav Ivanovic, Luis Suarez leads the league with 17 goals this season. Having played only 11 league games, he's on pace to shatter the league record of 34 goals, which was accomplished by both Andy Cole (1993-94) and Alan Shearer (1994-95) in 42-games seasons. Here are five other notes on Suarez's recent run of form...

• His productivity may be a byproduct of his activity, particularly in the penalty area. Over the last four seasons, Suarez leads the top four European leagues with 817 touches in the penalty area, 23 more than second-place Lionel Messi.

• Suarez doesn't just score; he also makes his teammates better. He has created the most scoring chances in the attacking penalty area of any player in the top four European leagues over the past four seasons. He's eight ahead of Franck Ribery and 12 ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. In that same span, Suarez has completed the fourth-most passes in the penalty area of any player in those leagues.

• Suarez is a timely scorer. He has 14 go-ahead goals in the 80th minute or later since the beginning of last season, tied with Sergio Aguero for second-most in the Premier League, behind only Robin van Persie’s 18 such goals.

• Suarez is also a threat from distance, one of the league's best long-range shooters. His 17 goals from 18 or more yards are the most in the Premier League since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, and he ranks only fifth in total shots from that distance during that time.

• But how sustainable is Suarez's scoring rate? He's scored on 25 percent of his shots this season, far above both his rate of 10 percent in his first three seasons with Liverpool and the league average of nine percent in that span. The reason isn't his average shot distance of 18.3 yards, which is only slightly below his previous Liverpool average of 18.7 yards. But he'll be hard-pressed to continue putting 54 percent of his shots on target, when his previous Liverpool average was 37 percent, and the league average has been 31 percent.

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/fiveaside/id/1618?cc=5739

[Kenneth]

It's important in a lot of ways:

Tells other top quality that we will pay the wages for the best players - spurs don't do this do they for instance.
A new contract with those wages means we can stick in an 80m+ fee clause if he does want to leave.
Oh and if it's the kind of wages the likes of Rooney and the man city boys have been on for years then he's more than worth it. He is the best player in the league after all

As long as it's performance (and good behaviour) based and rewarding him for this brilliance then I've no issue with it. If he gets us into CL and is the anchor around which a title winning team is built then frankly, it's great value.

If we didn't do this and did just sell him, even for 60m, then surely it means we're a selling club.

I don't think this new contract is our choice. After the summer there is no way he would have settle down with his current contract that underpays him and doesn't guarantee him CL football somewhere. After the failure of his clause he wants to know that the summer isn't going to be repeated, he gets clear assurances that we qualify for the CL (and maybe further conditions) or he is allowed to leave. So we will either match his criteria and pay him appropriately or he goes. That is surely the whole point of the contract, it's not him committing to the club as such, it will be him securing his exit if we don't live up to his expectations. We have a successful year and he stays, everyone's happy. We **** up and we have loads of money in the summer (maybe less than his market value) and a hunt for a striker who doesn't need CL football.

[EwarWoo]

• His productivity may be a byproduct of his activity, particularly in the penalty area. Over the last four seasons, Suarez leads the top four European leagues with 817 touches in the penalty area, 23 more than second-place Lionel Messi.

• Suarez doesn't just score; he also makes his teammates better. He has created the most scoring chances in the attacking penalty area of any player in the top four European leagues over the past four seasons. He's eight ahead of Franck Ribery and 12 ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. In that same span, Suarez has completed the fourth-most passes in the penalty area of any player in those leagues.

I know stats are meaningless bull****, but that is bloody amazing. Especially considering how **** the team around him as been for that period.

[kev776]

What a crazy world we live in, £100,00 per WEEK is considered not enough, we discuss doubling the wage.

Wow, just ****ing wow.

[Darkon]

Aye, and for what? Kicking an inflated bladder covered by a dead cows skin around for 90 minutes a week - crazy freaking world this!

[Vermilion]

Aye, and for what? Kicking an inflated bladder covered by a dead cows skin around for 90 minutes a week - crazy freaking world this!

Surely it's more to do with the way he kicks the inflated bladder covered by a dead cows skin around the field ?

I'm not doubting the crazy world bit though, agree with that.

[Vermilion]

My only worry with all this is, the longer he doesn't sign, the bigger the story becomes for the **** stirrers.

So i hope the club have judged it right.

[Darkon]

Surely it's more to do with the way he kicks the inflated bladder covered by a dead cows skin around the field ?

I'm not doubting the crazy world bit though, agree with that.

True, that is why he is paid more than me when I'm kicking around the inflated bladder covered by a dead cows skin The ludicrious part is that anyone is paid to do that

[Resu]

I have to say I'm in paulg's camp here. It'll will probably take a season without ****-up before I "believe" Suarez again.
No doubt he's a fantastic player, and I love his contribution to the team. But he's also the player that has caused the club most grieve in a long time.