Gunners rather than the Catalans in Tuesday’s
Champions League tie had the summer of 2013
turned out differently.
It was in the Melwood gym on August 9, 2013
where Luis Suarez reconsidered what would
have been "a massive mistake."
That Friday morning, in the expansive workout
area of the training complex, Steven Gerrard
narrowed his eyes and bluntly asked the
Uruguayan: "Do you really want to leave
Liverpool Football Club for Arsenal? Or do you
want to leave Liverpool Football Club for a mega
team?"
Suarez listened intently as his captain explained
why staying on Merseyside for another season
and waiting for an offer from Barcelona, Real
Madrid or Bayern Munich would be a smarter
decision than accepting a move to north London
that summer following a provocative
£40,000,000 plus £1 bid.
As Gerrard detailed his reasoning, he drew
parallels between the South American trading
Liverpool for the Gunners to Fernando Torres's
departure to Chelsea in January 2011. The
Spaniard had felt like a "king" at Anfield before
his switch sparked a swift disintegration of his
relationship with the club's supporters.
"Do you want that?" enquired the midfielder.
Suarez didn't, and moreover, Arsenal was not a
destination he particularly coveted but one he
pushed for out of "confusion and uncertainty."
The conversation with Gerrard swayed the
attacker's decision and ultimately helped shape
his path to Camp Nou.
Since that talk amongst the exercise bikes and
dumbbells, Suarez, who used to attend Nacional
training aged 18 with a grey Barcelona
rucksack, has recorded just three short of 100
goals. 31 of those were for the Reds in his final
campaign at the club, in which he so nearly
inspired a first championship in 24 years. Sixty
six have been smashed in in 80 games as part
of the best attack in world football alongside
Lionel Messi and Neymar in the team that he
has held in his heart - much like his wife Sofi -
since he was a teenager.
Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, has been on the
outside looking in wondering how much more
formidable his side would've been had Gerrard
not volleyed the thought of joining Arsenal out of
the forward's head. As the former Reds skipper
explained: "You've got a chance of beating
anyone in the world with Luis Suarez in your
team."
In the Champions League round of 16 on
Tuesday, Wenger has to find a way to thwart the
man he knew would elevate his squad to greater
heights. The man who has helped modify an
already fearsome Barcelona into a suped-up
version of indomitableness. The man who is
quite possibly the premier player in Europe
presently, but works as though everyone else on
the pitch is more talented than he is.
Large swathes of Liverpool's support base will
be watching the encounter at the Emirates,
chiefly to cheer on their former talisman. He
may be in different club colours but he's still the
street player they bowed to, who fought for
every ball, flummoxed his opponents when he
had it at his feet, and made fans dream in
2013-14.
In a season-and-a-half, Suarez has lifted five
trophies with Barcelona. Like Torres, he held
aloft the European Cup after departing L4.
Unlike Torres, he heavily contributed to the
triumph in the final and his feat was heavily
celebrated by Reds worldwide. The duo were
meant to be a deadly pairing at Anfield before
the Spaniard left for Stamford Bridge in the
same window Suarez was signed, but things
have turned out much differently for them since
January 2011.
The 29-year-old admitted in his autobiography,
Crossing the Line, that he never fully visualised
himself as an Arsenal player, and that had he
turned out for the Gunners, "the regret would
have eaten away at me when I saw the Liverpool
supporters and when they saw me in the shirt of
their rivals."
While Torres publicly never said as much, his
unhappiness and compunction at Chelsea was
privately revealed to those he was closest to in
his old dressing room. It took until April last
year for much of the bad blood between the
striker and the Liverpool support base to subside
as his song was once again sung at Anfield
during the All-Stars charity match. He was
surprised, but more than that, El Nino was
relieved.
Suarez was spared the ignominy Torres long-
suffered, and he'll long be adored by Liverpool
fans.
His every accomplishment will be applauded, his
every success saluted because for a brief but
brilliant spell, he ran the show for the Reds and
ran himself into the ground. And then ran some
more.
Suarez has the extraordinary gift of not just
being a great footballer, but helping those
around him become greater. Gerrard explained
that "there was a sustained period when playing
with Luis was like being under a magical spell."
Watching him has exactly the same effect too,
which is why Liverpool supporters still just can't
get enough.
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