This book is dedicated to Roy Stone, Jo Hernon, Nathan Griffiths, Mark Bengoechea and Carole Theobald: all great friends and loyal Liverpool FC fans. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SPECIAL THANKS: Chris Mitchell, James Hodgkinson, Anna Marx, Joanna Kennedy and all at John Blake Publishing. Alan Feltham, Ben Felsenburg at the Daily Mail and Alex Butler at The Sunday Times. THANKS: Allie Collins, Mike Gould, Duncan Williams, Ian Rondeau, Colin Forshaw, Ash Hussein, Gary Edwards, Adrian Baker, Ben Green, Clive Martin, Steven Gordon, Lee Clayton, Darren O’Driscoll, Martin Creasy, Lee Hassall, John Fitzpatrick, Paul Hazeldine, Nigel Wareing and Tom Henderson Smith. NOT FORGETTING: Angela, Frankie and Jude, Natalie, Barbara, Frank, Bob and Stephen, Gill, Lucy, Alex, Suzanne, Michael and William. CONTENTS 1. Title Page 2. Dedication 3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4. INTRODUCTION 5. CHAPTER ONE STREET FIGHTER 6. CHAPTER TWO OPENING SHOTS 7. CHAPTER THREE THE KING OF AMSTERDAM 8. CHAPTER FOUR WELCOME TO ANFIELD 9. CHAPTER FIVE CANNY KENNY 10. CHAPTER SIX THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN 11. CHAPTER SEVEN GETTING SHIRTY 12. CHAPTER EIGHT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HAND 13. CHAPTER NINE NATIONAL SERVICE 14. CHAPTER TEN MEET THE NEW BOSS 15. CHAPTER ELEVEN THE BITE 16. CHAPTER TWELVE FOREIGN LEGION 17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN 18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF LEGENDS 19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE GREATEST 20. EPILOGUE 21. Plates 22. Copyright INTRODUCTION W hen I was asked to put together a biography on Luis Suarez, I said ‘yes’ immediately. It was a chance to dig deep and find out what motivates a world-class player. To learn about his background, his hinterland and exactly what formed and moulded him as a footballer… and a person. The weeks of research and interviews proved more than worthwhile when I finally got around to writing the book. For what I realised a couple of weeks in was this: not only was I compiling a biography on Liverpool’s best player of the modern era but I was also compiling a biography on a man who is arguably THE best player of the modern era. And, beyond that, arguably Liverpool’s best player ever (along with the legendary Kenny Dalglish) and arguably the best foreign player ever to grace these shores (along with Cristiano Ronaldo) and arguably the best striker in the world right now, given that Ronaldo and Messi play more between the lines than Suarez. So what initially had been a simple commission eventually became a privilege as it struck me that I was doing the first biog ever on a man who can conceivably stake the claims above; that I was looking between the lines at the life of the best footballer in the world right now – and the man who had won both of the Footballer of the Year awards for 2013–14. Of course, given his nature and controversies, Luis Suarez will always polarise opinions among everyone who loves the beautiful game – fans, fellow pros, managers and even football-club chairmen. Steve Bruce, the much-travelled manager of Hull City, for example, agrees wholeheartedly with me that Luis is the best striker in the world. As this book went to the printers in the summer of 2014, Bruce said, Never mind Luis being the Premier League’s top player. On current form, he’s got to be the best in the world. There is just nobody around who you can say is better than him right now. Neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor the Barcelona trio of Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Neymar – and Lionel Messi can’t come into the equation because he’s been out injured so long. OK, we’ve all done stupid things on the pitch and Suarez has had his moments. But he has cleaned up his act over the first half of this season. Luis’s Uruguayan co-striker Edinson Cavani agreed with Bruce that Luis was the best in the world and added that he believed England and the striker’s constant critics would suffer as a result when the nations met in competitive action. Cavani said, ‘Luis Suarez is very familiar with this England team and his experience in the Premier League will help us beat them. He has nothing to prove to anyone but for what the English media have inflicted, we look forward to silencing his critics. For me he is the best striker in the world right now and I’m sure he will retain his present form to the World Cup.’ How right Cavani would be proved about that as Suarez returned to haunt them in June 2014 with that brilliant brace in the World Cup group stage. And Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers also felt the need to defend his star man when Luis came under criticism every week over alleged diving and bad sportsmanship. Rodgers was particularly aggrieved when Suarez was singled out after HE was the victim of a Robert Huth stamp in a 0–0 draw with Stoke City. Rodgers said, As manager of this football club, I find it incredible that in nearly all the coverage about Luis Suarez this weekend, very little focus has been placed on the fact that he was actually the victim of a stamping incident within the first five minutes of the game. At this moment there seems to be one set of rules for Luis and another set for everyone else. Diving and simulation is obviously a wider issue in football and one that we all agree has to be eradicated from our game but there were other incidents this weekend that didn’t seem to generate the same coverage. No one should be distracted by the real issue here, both at Anfield and at another game played on Sunday, when Luis and another player were hurt in off-the-ball incidents that went unpunished but were caught on TV cameras. I believe some people need to develop a sense of perspective and I also believe in this moment the vilification of Luis is both wrong and unfair. I will continue to protect the values, spirit and people of this great club and game while searching for a consistent level of results in order to make progress on the field. Yet on the other side of the coin, many others considered Luis’s temperament held him back; that his unpredictability and tendency to fly off the handle at other players diminished him. I can understand that view when you look back at his ‘Cannibal’ interludes in Amsterdam and with Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic – and, of course, that self-destructive chomp on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in the 2014 World Cup. And his disciplinary record over the years has hardly been that of a model pro. Oldham boss Lee Johnson called Luis ‘a dirty rat’ and ‘horrible’ before the Latics met Liverpool in an FA Cup class earlier in 2014. It was an insult but a view held by many pundits and fans who still find it hard to forgive Suarez for his indiscretions. However, even Johnson qualified his comment by making it clear that he also knew Luis to be world class and a star act. Johnson had formed his view after turning out as a player for his former club Bristol City in a friendly against Luis when he was at Ajax Amsterdam in 2009. Johnson said, ‘He’s like a dirty street rat and I mean that in the best possible way. He’s sharp and horrible – all that is in admiration for him because he’s a winner. He has that desire to be better today than he was yesterday. I played against Suarez for Bristol City and I failed miserably – he scored. I remember asking, “Who was that lad up front?” He wasn’t well known then. I was like, “Who on earth is that?” I was meant to stop the ball up to him but you just can’t. Sometimes players are just too good.’ And Swansea City defender Ashley Williams went so far as to admit that he despised Luis and would like to ‘knock him out’. Williams said, ‘Suarez dived more than any other player I’ve played against before – it was so bad I was genuinely shocked. Throughout the game, he just dived down and screamed at any given moment. Suarez has that aura about him that says “I’m untouchable” and his manner and behaviour made me want to knock him out. I’d go as far as to say that the manner in which he approached the game, with utter contempt for us all, means that he’s streets ahead of any player I’ve truly disliked since I’ve been in the Premier League.’ Strong stuff but criticisms Luis would rebuff in the best way possible – by giving weekly masterclasses in goal scoring and model behaviour during the 2013–14 season. In that superb campaign – as he proved week in and week out that he was simply the best player in the Premier League – Luis Suarez will be best remembered for his classy play, his incredible wealth of goals and the way he almost single-handedly propelled Liverpool to their finest season for many a year. It is certainly true that, if you took away Luis’s goals and contributions, Liverpool would not have done as well as they have. They are not a one- man team – what with Gerrard, Sturridge and Coutinho – but they would also not be the same team if they lost the services of Suarez. He is a genius and deserved every accolade that came his way over the last season. Koppites had admitted they would be devastated if Liverpool lost him but they knew one thing for sure: his mooted departure to Barcelona would cost the Catalan giants far in advance of the desultory £40.1 million Arsenal offered for him in the summer of 2013. No, if Gareth Bale set Real Madrid back 100 million (around £86 million), Luis is worth £100 million in sterling, let alone euros. Don’t get me wrong, Bale is good, very good. But he is not in the same league as Suarez in terms of goals and importance to a team. Take Bale out of Madrid’s starting eleven, and they will still win most games. But put Luis in Madrid’s starting eleven instead of Bale and the results would, I believe, be even better. When you buy Luis Suarez, you buy the guarantee of goals galore. He is a one-man goal machine who has scored in abundance from youth teams through to Liverpool. And when you understand his background, you do start to understand the man. Suarez was one of seven siblings, brought up in relative poverty in Uruguay for many years by his mother after his father walked out on the family. His life has been punctuated by abandonment and emotional distress: whenever he seemed to find happiness, it was rudely snatched away from him. He was the little boy left crying in the corner… alone and sad. At six years old, his parents told him they were leaving his beloved hometown and pals in El Salto for the big city of Montevideo. His unhappiness was such that he would return home in the school summer holidays and stay with his grandmother. His father abandoned him and he finally found happiness with his sweetheart Sofia in Montevideo – only for her to also leave for Europe and Barcelona. He was the undisputed star of the Nacional youth team in Montevideo but was threatened with the boot there. It seemed throughout his life that he would take one step forward only to then suffer two steps back. It was only at Liverpool that he finally felt secure after a lifetime of anxiety – and it is to the eternal credit of Kop boss Brendan Rodgers that is the case. He stood by his man when many were calling for him to be sold. And, eventually, the penny dropped with Luis: he realised that Rodgers had stuck his neck out for him and started to repay him. He repaid loyalty with loyalty and his goals set Liverpool up for a superb season in the Premier League. At the end of the campaign, Luis declared himself happy with his life and his lot on Merseyside. It appeared the wanderer had finally come home – only for him to self-destruct in the World Cup and leave Liverpool FC with the unenviable choice of keeping him and his goals, or letting him leave for Barcelona and losing the man who had led them back to the promised land of the Champions League. Brendan Rodgers would admit it was the hardest decision of his footballing career – one that could define his and Liverpool’s future. This is the warts and all story of Luis Suarez – the most controversial footballer in the world today. A troubled genius who could beat another team on his own with his full array of dazzling skills, yet a man who could never gain the upper hand when it came to his own self-destructive inner demons. Truly, a Diego Maradona of the modern footballing era. Frank Worrall July 2014