What if: Luis Suarez had never left Liverpool
The 2013/14 season was supposed to be Liverpool’s year. With just 3 games of the Premier League campaign remaining, they sat perched on top of the table, on the verge of their first ever Premier League title.
It was all downhill from there, however. After a loss and a draw in two of their remaining 3 games, the club was beaten to the summit by Manchester City and “what was meant to be” became “what could have been.”
It didn’t end there, though, for the Liverpool faithful. Just months after having success snatched away from them, Luis Suarez, their star striker, their player of the season, decided it was time to move away from Merseyside.
Courting interest from a number of clubs, Suarez eventually chose Barcelona and signed for the Catalans in 2014 for £64.98m, becoming one of the most expensive players in the game.
In Spain, he has forged one of football’s greatest ever partnerships alongside Neymar and Lionel Messi, winning trophies at will. Liverpool, meanwhile, bereft of their attacking talisman, have missed out on Champions League football for two consecutive seasons.
Also Read: What if: The Munich air disaster never took place
But what if the Uruguay hitman had stayed on for another season? Could he have lifted Liverpool to their first ever EPL title? What about Brendan Rodgers? Would he still be in the picture?
Our next ‘What If’ feature takes us through the state of world football had Luis Suarez decided to stay at the club.
#1 No world beating M-S-N(Messi-Suarez-Neymar) trio
Barcelona moved to sign the 29-year-old striker at the end of the 2013/14 season after Liverpool missed out on the Premier League title.
Along with Messi and Neymar, the three attackers, commonly referred to as MSN, have formed the most threatening football trio of, possibly, all time. In the 2015/16 season alone, they combined for 196 goals in just 151 appearances. 100 goals in a season is itself an achievement. 196 goals is simply outrageous.
Barcelona, meanwhile, spearheaded by the three, completed a double of the La Liga and the Copa Del Ray. The Catalan club also managed to bag the UEFA Super Cup along with the FIFA Club World Cup, in what was an amazing season.
Such feats, though, would not have been possible without the Uruguayan in the mix. Suarez, in fact, was the club’s top scorer, finishing with 59 goals in all competitions and was arguably their best player in the season.
A joy to watch, the M-S-N trio is more a force of nature than just a football trio and the world would have been deprived of watching these superstars at work had Luis Suarez stayed at Anfield.