Suarez or Cavani? Who should Real Madrid choose to sign?

Real Madrid are clearly in the market to upgrade their attack this summer. They are allowing Gonzalo Higuain to leave and in their pursuit of Barcelona in La Liga and Bayern Munich in Europe, they are focusing on upgrading on Karim Benzema. All reports indicate that they have zeroed in on Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani as their first two choices. Both are Uruguayan, both would cost £50m. So which one should Real Madrid choose? Who should be first choice?

Real’s initial focus centered on Luis Suarez which indicates that he is most likely their first choice. Suarez offers Real something that neither Higuain or Benzema do, and that is his dribbling ability and inventiveness. If there was a criticism, albeit very minor, of Real last season, it was that if they couldn’t use their devastating counter attacking abilities against teams, they would struggle to break them down. Real lost three times 1-0 away from home against teams who packed the defence and didn’t allow themselves to be counter attacked. Benzema is superb on the break and Higuain is a ruthless finisher. But they can’t make things happen from nothing.

Suarez is a sublime dribbler and is blessed with close control that is of the quality of Messi. He can drop his shoulder, drag the ball with him and completely change the point of the attack. Even if a team sits 10 men on the edge of the box, he has the magical ability to squeeze through tight spaces in an instant in a way none of the Real personnel really do at the moment. His clever and canny runs would also give Mesut Ozil and Luka Modric an option to pass to. The sight of Suarez slapping his side in frustration as one of his runs wasn’t picked out was all too common before the arrival of Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool, but Real Madrid have the types of players who can find him easily.

At Ajax, and later at Liverpool, Suarez also showed an ability and willingness to drift in to positions wide on the left. At Real Madrid, this would be an ideal way of keeping width and shape. It would allow Cristiano Ronaldo to come in to central areas and hunt the ball to get shots on goal and in the mean time, Suarez can slink out wide left. It would give Real a different shape and dimension. It would give them the kind of movement and fluency that Borussia Dortmund vanquished them with in the Champions League semi-final this season.