During the 2014 World Cup, a lot of issues were on a lot of people’s minds. Americans were wondering how their squad would get out of the group stage — which they ultimately did thanks to an underwhelming Portugal squad. (Say what you want about that last statement. I challenge you to find one soccer head that didn’t have Germany and Portugal coming out of that. I’m not “un-American”. I’m a realist.)
The other big news out of the group stage came thanks to a news headline that Liverpool supporters know all too well.
“Luis Suarez bites (insert name here).”
The latest victim was Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini. Suarez took a bite out of Chiellini late in Uruguay’s last group game. It was at that point where wheels of transfer probably started turning more rapidly. Suarez had already served a 10-match ban in 2013 for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic and a seven-match ban in 2010 for biting a player in the Eredivisie.
There’s more to the Suarez problem than his apparent “hunger to win” so to speak. There have been multiple reports like this one last July where Suarez trashed Liverpool saying they are “simply not good enough for me”. If this last biting incident is the last straw, it honestly comes at the perfect time to groom for the future.
That future lives and breathes in 24-year old forward Daniel Sturridge.
Liverpool’s best option would be to simply rebuild their team around an offense that features Sturridge, another budding English soccer star in Raheem Sterling, and Philippe Coutinho. This could be Liverpool legend Stephen Gerrard’s last season at Anfield so beginning the transition to a new generation of Liverpool soccer couldn’t come at a better time.
Sturridge can be the new face of Liverpool soccer once Gerrard hangs up his boots. He’s the perfect man for the job. At 24 years old, Sturridge had his breakout season for Liverpool in the English Premier League scoring 21 goals (second only to Suarez) and became only the second player in history to score goals in eight straight games. Sturridge absolutely packs the offensive punch necessary to make up for an eventual Suarez exit from Anfield. He plays inside as well as wide and can finish from anywhere within 30 feet. Sturridge’s speed is also an asset given his original development as an outside winger as opposed to an inside forward.
At 24, Sturridge is beginning to come into his own as a soccer star. He never got a real shot at Chelsea because of all the talent in front of him. Now that he’s on a squad where he’s always in the starting XI, he’s flourishing.
Putting the team’s hands in Sturridge also provides another angle: marketability. Liverpool will find it easier to market a star that was born and raised a mere two hours away in Birmingham as opposed to their now disgraced Uruguayan star. With all due respect to Birmingham City F.C., would you rather watch your club struggle with trying to avoid relegation to Football League One or watch one of your own homegrown kids’ belt balls through nets for a Champions League caliber Premier League squad?
Giving Sturridge the keys to this shiny, red car also advances Liverpool’s opportunity to move on from someone that has caused them a lot of grief over the last five seasons. Despite manager Brendan Rogers’ insistence that Suarez is a key piece, you have to wonder how long he was willing to put up with Suarez’s nonsense and outspoken opinion about his club.
Sturridge is the exact opposite. There hasn’t been a negative report about him in his short time at Liverpool. If anything, he’s become the perfect bright and pretty face to market the future with. Sturridge donated €50,000 to Street League, a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged players across Europe get into football. Last year, Sturridge opened a charity foundation named after him in Portmore, Jamaica. That organization promotes soccer in the youth of Jamaica.
There have been several reports about who or how Liverpool will move on in the post-Luis Suarez era. Will Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez be the guy to move Liverpool ahead? Will it be one of the many players they’ve signed in this summer transfer window?
I say why try and find a replacement for Suarez outside the organization when you already have it in Sturridge?
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