Reformed Suarez repaying Reds for standing by him

Reformed Suarez repaying Reds for standing by him

Even if you are not a Liverpool fan, you have to be a fan of Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan is in the form of his life right now with 19 goals in just 12 English Premier League (EPL) games. He is now standing shoulder to shoulder with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best footballers in the world.

I had always thought that Suarez is a great player but previously, I never liked Suarez the man.

His racial abuse of Manchester United's Patrice Evra, him biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic and his refusal to stay with the club during the off-season were some of the things he did that made him so unpopular.

But he is a changed man now. You can see that he is calmer on the pitch, he doesn't react to challenges and he has stopped diving. He plays with a smile on his face, he dedicates his goals to his family.

His transformation has been nothing short of remarkable.

Not only is he scoring lots of goals but he has also created many for his team-mates.

Lots of credit must go to Liverpool and manager Brendan Rodgers for standing by Suarez even though he was a troublemaker, especially when he tried to leave at the end of last season.

But Rodgers trusted Suarez even though so many critics urged him to sell.

They never lost their faith in him and now that the striker is feeling settled, he is repaying them with the kind of form that defines a world-class footballer.

Suarez is lucky as well. It is arguable that he may not enjoy such staunch support at another football club. But I think that he finally understands what Liverpool's motto You'll Never Walk Alone meant.

He caused so much trouble and logically, the club should get rid of him but instead, they gave him a new and better contract.

He is in such a rich vein of form now that he makes the difficult goals look easy.

Against Cardiff on Saturday, he had to judge a high cross perfectly but such is his confidence now that when he volleyed the ball into the bottom corner, he made the execution look so easy.

As a striker myself, I know how it feels like when you're in top form. Everything you attempt will go in. Even deflections will favour you. Suarez is enjoying such a hot streak right now.

We are all lucky to see such a striker playing in the EPL because he really is as good as Messi or Ronaldo at the moment.

My only concern is even though he has a new contract till 2018, it will not stop a big club like Arsenal or Real Madrid from trying to sign him when the transfer window opens.

After all, we had seen it all happen before.

stsports@sph.com.sg


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