PFA award: Suarez won't be removed from shortlist

Luis Saurez, 26, accepted the charge of violent conduct from the Football Association following his bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, which questioned his name’s existence in the contesting for the Professional Footballers’ Association award.

The chairman of PFA has refused to cut out his name from the list of the nominees for the award. Carlisle believes the FA’s exploration into Suarez will not affect his probability of winning.

Carlisle said, “It’s not possible. The Player of the Year award is voted on footballing merit alone. This isn’t club man of the year or most well behaved player. It’s voted for by the players on football ability. A couple of years ago Ched Evans was in the Team of the Year, he was subsequently sent to prison for rape and we made the decision to stand because the vote was taken well before he got into the trouble and it was on footballing ability alone. If we were to change that now because Luis Suárez has bitten someone then that would be a terrible message to send out. We’ve made that distinction, it’s about footballing ability alone, it’s voted for by his peers and that’s going to remain.”

Uruguay captain Diego Lugano is defending Saurez by saying that he is unfairly treated because of his “mistake”.

Lugano said on his personal website. “Luis is the most competitive of all. He made a mistake and said sorry. In the same way that a defender makes a mistake going for the attacker’s leg instead of the ball or when coaches, referees, journalists or even directors make mistakes without the adrenalin of competition. The (Uruguay) squad support him because you see people’s quality in everyday things. The people who work with him like, respect and protect him, as much in Uruguay as Holland or England. That’s the most important thing in life.”