Liverpool fans may well be a little displeased with Luis Suarez and his comments in the Catalan media on Wednesday. The former Anfield hero received huge backing from supporters during his time at the Premier League club.
Fans were happy to go with the narrative that Suarez was treated poorly by English football authorities and England in general, and, at least at times, defend the indefensible whilst surely having the knowledge it wasn’t doing wonders for the club.
Suarez wanted out, he wanted to go to Barcelona. That may have been painted as the fault of the English, but the pull of Barcelona had been greater than the push out of Anfield.
Now it’s Philippe Coutinho’s turn to struggle out of Liverpool to Barcelona, and Suarez has been questioned about it. Asked if he’s been speaking to the Liverpool player, Suarez said: “Yes, because I have a relationship with him.”
“He went through a difficult and very complicated moment but as a professional he has continued to show how good a player he is and the personal quality he has. Despite trying to leave Liverpool he continued as one more helping the team and working. He is performing as a professional who has the ambition to take a step further.”
On what the Liverpool player can bring to Barcelona, Suarez said: “A lot. I know him as a person and as a player because I played with him but everyone knows what Coutinho can contribute. He’s a footballer who today is at a very high level.”
Suarez needs to ingratiate himself to the Barcelona audience right now because he’s having a poor start to the season… oh, and opening a restaurant.
Of course, the Liverpool legend isn’t running around with a sandwich board shouting ‘FREE COUTINHO’ and he was ‘only answering questions’ but a little more feeling towards Anfield wouldn’t have gone amiss, or at least a little effort to not answer the questions so frankly.
