Luis Suarez has 29 goals in 27 games for Liverpool this year in the Premier League. How different could that have been if he joined rivals Arsenal in the summer? What would Liverpool have done without their lethal finisher and their number seven who can win a game out of nothing? Their player who is priceless. Every top club has one.
It could very easily have become a different story for Liverpool before this season started as Arsenal tabled a £40,000,001 bid for the Uruguayan striker and Arsene Wenger made him the man he wanted to lead the line at The Emirates, but Liverpool kept strong and rebuffed these advances. Brendon Rodgers deserves huge credit for this as he persuaded Suarez to stay and give him at least one more season to try and get in the Champions League. What a reward Rodgers is going to get come May when he might be lifting the Premier League trophy, let alone booking his flights to Munich and Barcelona next season.
Luis Suarez also attracted interest from Real Madrid last year, before they switched their attention to signing Gareth Bale from Tottenham. Bale was signed for £86 million, leaving Spurs needing to fill that void after his 31 goals in all competitions for them last season. He managed eight winning goals for them in that season, more than any other Premier League player.
Obviously the North London club were going to miss a priceless player like this, but if you think back to 2009 when Manchester United were in a similar situation, selling Cristiano Ronaldo for a similar price as well. They bought very well with the £80 million they got for Ronaldo. Antonio Valencia came from Wigan to fill in on the wing and Michael Owen was signed on a free transfer to give them the extra few goals that they needed with Ronaldo gone. United came second in the League in their first season without the Portuguese sensation, runner up to Chelsea by just a point. However they did win the trophy back in the following two years, 2011 and 2012 with the latter one being mostly down to another big signing, Robin van Persie. With a player as massive as Ronaldo, you would think they would struggle after he got on the plane to Spain, but it’s only until now, four years later, when they have lacked pace in their game, that they are missing someone as priceless as him.
Van Persie was nearing the end of his contract with The Gunners and it was either a sell him now for a reasonable price or let him go on a free transfer dilemma for Mr. Wenger. He decided, reluctantly to sell to his Premier League rivals and got an unbelievable amount of stick for this, especially after RVP scoring for fun in his first season for United and Arsenal struggling to hold down a top four place until the final game of the season. Arsenal signed Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud with the Van Persie money that summer and all 3 have gone on to be quality players for The Gunners. Wenger didn’t panic buy and throw the whole lot on some overrated and overpriced striker. He chose carefully. All are good, technical players that can pass at pace, something which Arsenal need with their quick passing game.
Arsene Wenger, against the Arsenal fans’ wishes, sold the clubs best players in 2010 and 2011 as well. Samir Nasri went to Manchester City and Cesc Fabregas went back to Barcelona, leaving Arsenal labelled as a “selling club”. Since then Arsene has rejuvenated his Arsenal midfield and I believe they would have been closer than they are now in the title race this year if they didn’t lose Aaron Ramsey half way through his best season ever for the club. A lot of fans will be calling for Wenger to go if they don’t win the FA Cup, which they have a great chance of doing, but they just need to go up the road to Manchester to see what impact a new manager can do to a club after the previous one has been there a while. Although Wenger has sold top, match winning players over the last few years, he has bought replacements well and they are only one world class striker short of being serious Premier League contenders.
Arsenal’s North London Rivals Tottenham, signed 7 players worth £107 million after Bale left. All but one have failed to live up to their price tags. Christian Eriksen came in from Ajax for £12 million and undoubtedly been Spurs man of a very disappointing season. He is brilliant at set pieces, makes intelligent runs and has an eye for goal. Something that cannot be said of a man that cost more than double his price, Roberto Soldado. Soldado has just not adapted to the Premier League and reminds me of Andrey Shevchenko when he signed for Chelsea. He looks lost. His movement off the ball is pedestrian, in a league where pace is the key.
Other signings by Daniel Levy were Erik Lamela, Etienne Capoue, Vladimir Chiriches, Nacer Chadli and Paulinho. This lot have made a below average start on their first year in the Premier League and only one that may make the grade at Spurs is the latter. The Brazilian international has had a few good games for this season, but never excelled in their big games against top four opposition. After a season and a World Cup behind him, he could come good. The other four are likely to be shipped out on loan or sold in the summer, leaving a conclusion that after selling the best player they have had in years, Spurs have never come close to replacing him. They would have been better off signing one or two class, quality players for top dollar. Instead they bought unproven, overpriced, big money signings. A lot of them without big league experience, such as Chiriches from Steaua Bucarest and Capoue from Toulouse. Unlike Podolski that went to Arsenal, a proven World Cup athlete with Germany and Cazorla the same with Spain.
The Priceless player in a team is someone that football managers will not always be able to cling onto for long. The solution to that is, how to keep replacing them. The Arsenal way? Or the Tottenham way? Alternatively, you could go the Brendon Rodgers way and persuade them to have an extended stay with you. It might get you the Premier League trophy and a trip round Europe.
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