The Fantasyland Gossip
Brendan Rodgers has a rare ability to take football manager cliches one step further than is really necessary. Last season for example, instead of saying 'we didn't deserve to lose' after being beaten 2-0 away to Zenit St. Petersburg, the Liverpool boss described the defeat as a "near-on perfect performance". Yesterday, he was it again as instead of maybe saying something along the lines of 'the grass isn't always greener when you leave a club the size of Liverpool', the former Swansea manager sounded genuinely surprised that one of the best strikers in the world would want to leave a club that has not finished above sixth place in the last four years to join one that hasn't finished outside of the top four since 1996.
"I know what we are trying to build and grow, so why would you swap Liverpool to go to Arsenal? Arsenal has a wonderful history in its own right but Liverpool is one of the biggest clubs in the world....But I am not sure many teams will have done what we have done in the last couple of games [play to crowds of over 80,000 and 90,000 in Indonesia and Australia respectively]. I am sure Luis will have seen the sheer size and status of the club, so we'll just see how it goes."
History and tradition is important to Liverpool fans and their home-grown players but five European Cups and 95,000 fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the MCG is unlikely to be enough to satisfy a 26-year-old Uruguayan who wants to further his career. This is a fairly obvious point so even despite his form in this regard, Rodgers' level of conviction is still surprising and a bit ridiculous.
This saga may yet rumble on into a Premier League hearing to settle the contract-clause dispute with Suarez and and his representation apparently very confident of a ruling in their favour. According to well-respected Spanish-based journalist Pete Jenson, 'The League may offer to mediate in the row between Liverpool and Arsenal, and the player’s camp are understood to welcome independent arbitration stressing that both verbal and written assurances were given in the renegotiation of the Uruguayan striker’s contract last summer.' Given the nature of their latest bid of just one pound over the dispute clause, Arsenal are also 'confident that the Merseyside club will ultimately allow them to speak to Suarez and believe they are currently stalling in the hope that other clubs enter the race.'
With all indications that Real Madrid are no longer interested in buying last season's top goalscorer in the Premier League, Liverpool would seem to be backed into a corner and could be forced to sell their best player to the the club they have the most realistic chance of catching for fourth place.
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