Best striker in Europe? / Image via espnfc.com
He may have a shorter goal tally to Gonzalo Higuain’s record of 24 thus far, but Luis Suarez is arguably Europe’s top-rated forward at the moment.
Suarez’s importance to Barcelona is immense.
The 29-year-old Uruguay international has got his name on the scoresheet once again, having netted a 90th-minute goal for Barcelona to seal an empathic victory at Levante on Sunday afternoon.
The Catalans regained their three-point advantage over Atletico Madrid with their tenth consecutive victory in all competitions and will be glad to thank Luis Suarez for making sure their run remained intact as Luis Enrique’s men edged past the resilient hosts.
The La Liga bottom dwellers could have snatched what would have been a well-deserved point, but Barcelona’s key man this season rose to the occasion, waking up his somewhat complacent teammates on the afternoon.
It was Luis Suarez’s 36th goal of the season in all competitions and 20th in the Spanish top tier.
Suarez celebrated the win on Instagram with a post of him and Neymar, congratulating the entire team for the triumph.
The Uruguay international is currently Europe’s second-best top scorer, behind Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain, who has hit the incredible 24 in as many appearances. It has to be noted, though, that Barcelona forward has so far played 20 La Liga matches and it is fair to say that the two South Americans are on par with their performances this season.
Suarez has come a long way since his last, and hopefully final, incident back at FIFA World Cup in Brazil, when he bit Giorgio Chiellini. The Italian defender was the third rival to be bitten by Suarez and Barcelona did everything they could to make sure he remained the last one.
People were somewhat wondering why a club of such stature would opt to go for a player of such notoriety, but many believe that Luis Suarez’s public image has been in great deal forged by the blood-thirsty media, who did little to help the Uruguay player deal with his problems.
The Catalans had no dilemma about Luis Suarez.
El Pistolero fitted perfectly into their system, the former Liverpool striker is a different type to Zlatan Ibrahimovic who would be classified as the classic Number 9.
Suarez’s versatility make him a valuable asset and no wonder Barcelona were willing to cash out €81 million to sign him from Liverpool in 2014.
Barcelona were patient enough to wait for his “football-related activities” ban to expire, but he was well worth the wait.
Despite the ban, Uruguay international went on to score 16 goals in 27 league appearances and 25 in 43 games across all competitions during his maiden season at Camp Nou.
This year has been even more successful as the 29-year-old striker hit the 36 goals mark in just 34 appearances so far in the campaign.
His value and importance to Barcelona goes beyond goals, as his overall influence has been huge. Suarez is the driving force of the Catalan club, together with Messi and Neymar he has already created one of the best attacking tridents in history.
What does the future hold for Luis Suarez?
His primary goal for the season is to reclaim the La Liga title with Barcelona. Recreating the 2014-15 season will be difficult, but not impossible for Luis Enrique’s team, who won everything they could last year.
Summer of 2016 will, without a grain of doubt, bring a lot of speculation regarding Luis Suarez’s future at the club.
The Uruguay star would have no reason whatsoever to leave Blaugrana, but the British media are already speculating about a possible move back to the Premier League.
The Mirror has learned that Pep Guardiola has made Luis Suarez his Number 1 target for Manchester City as he is looking at ways to transform the Citizens’ squad he will inherit from Manuel Pellegrini.
With Luis Suarez closing to his 30th birthday, the aforementioned source claims that Luis Suarez would be willing to cash in his possibly last big pay check at the summit of his career. Pep Guardiola’s brother and agent is also representing Luis Suarez, hence the conviction that the Uruguay striker could be convinced to make a move to the Etihad.
Such a scenario would be highly unlikely, considering that Luis Suarez made strong connections to Liverpool and many supporters of the club from Anfield would, I am sure, feel the same way.
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