Why Suarez, do we need him? Do we want him?

By Radio Free Arsenal
August 5 2013

Let’s Start with the Easy Part – The Case FOR buying Luis SuarezThe case hardly needs arguing but I will go over it for those of you who don’t play fantasy football.Right now not only is Luis Suarez one of the best strikers in the Premiership he is one of the best strikers on the planet (If not the Universe. Just thought I would add that whilst we are doing hyperboles. Editor) and one of a handful of true match-winners. When on form, he will not only make his team better but more importantly he will make his team-mates better which makes his team even better than he does on his own. In the right circumstances and right team he could not be simply a match-winner but a trophy-winner at Arsenal.

And he could give us that something extra we lacked last year after selling Robin van Persie, and that certainly could be at the very least between easing into the top three rather than fighting on the last day for the top four, if not the difference ideally between challenging for second and challenging for and winning the League in theory at Arsenal.

Obviously the opportunity to obtain Luis Suarez at this stage in his career development and footballing form of the past two years at this time is a wonderful, even a destiny altering opportunity in theory and we dare not pass it up.

Now the Not-So- Easy Part – The Case AGAINST buying Luis Suarez

At first glance there really is not much of a case against this move. We all know the lad has issues- potentially really serious issues. Potentially career-stalling or career-ending issues. But honestly every player could be playing his last match every time he takes the pitch. I remember always worrying every time Thierry Henry crumpled in pain on the pitch than slowly rose up grimacing and rubbing his back before instantly launching into supersonic gear to latch onto the beautifully weighted through-ball or route one ball launched over the top which such ease and regularity I came to believe he was faking the pain to lull defenders to sleep.

More seriously Arsene Wenger gambled on Marc Overmars surgically repaired knee and won, on Emmanuel Petit’s depression ever his brother’s death and won, and gambles on Nwankwo Kanu’s carefully medicated heart and won (I’ll note this one is particularly moving as I was a freshman in college with Eric better known as Hank Gaithers a potential basketball legend who died of a similar heart issue on the basketball court a couple of years later).

The point being this would be just another gamble that if won could pay off brilliantly for Arsene Wenger and for Arsenal Football Club, and after the last eight years that has to make it more than worthwhile in theory. Especially considering that you have a manager historically very successful at making these sorts of gambles pay off and pay off handsomely in theory.

So really there isn’t much of a case against signing Luis Suarez after all,so that’s it, piece over, welcome to Arsenal son. In theory.

Okay - So What’s Up With Ending Everything With “In Theory” Anyway

Someone would have to ask. Well because it’s just not as simple as that really unfortunately. It would seem that simple and it should be that simple but really it’s just not.

See you have to balance actual risk with potential reward for Arsenal Football Club and that is where the case becomes a bit more complicated. Just a bit more complicated…oh hell, actually a lot more complicated

Why do you have to go and make things so complicated Luis?

NOTE- I have just quoted Avril Lavigne and I’m pretty certain I actually felt myself die a little bit doing that. But back to what really matters now. I added the Luis part and I think I saved myself by doing that.

The problem here is allocation of resources. We only have so much to invest in strengthening the team- £75 million we are told, and remember that covers both transfer fees and wages and we are already looking at £40-50 million and perhaps more in fees alone for Suarez right now, without his wages which will top £100 thousand a week and perhaps reach £150 thousand. So his acquisition at a minimum with a three year contract would look at a minimum to use up £55 million of the £75 million allocated to the transfer budget and could use as much the entire transfer budget and possibly even more if the Club pay over the odds

All this should not be a problem or more accurately would not be a problem – if the team had already been sufficiently strengthened all over the pitch. And I think its safe to say it has not. There are clearly weaknesses in the first eleven that have to be addressed.

A quality defensive midfielder has been a must in every successful never mind Premiership- Winning Wenger side and must be acquired. I would look at Kondogbia or Pogba straight away myself as they’ll be reasonably priced, but would be open to more expensive alternatives as this weakness has to be addressed period.

Some would argue that neither Kieran Gibbs nor Nacho Monreal is a Premiership Winning quality left back , while others still harbor doubts that either of current keepers is a true number one, at least not at this point in their careers. Others still believe we need a real traditional goal-creating and goal-getting winger in the first eleven.

And then there are matters of strengthening the quality of our depth something which the lack of has tripped us up more than once since 2005 especially in 2008. We need to get a fourth central defender of some proven quality or some cover at right back if we have to use Sagna in central defence. This would make buying either Micah Richards who can put in a decent shirt at both right back and in central defence a good buy and solve that conundrum both ways, or Gregory vanderWiel who would be excellent cover at both right and left back as well as potential first choice at either. And a keeper like Julio Cesar would not just be top keeper cover but could take the number one shirt for a couple of years while either Fabianski or Szczesny puts themselves in line for the shirt 2-3 years down the road.

So clearly we have other needs besides one really world-class striker right now. And we don’t have the budget to pursue those needs if we invest in landing one top striker costing what Suarez will. Not unless we bin the self-sustaining model once and for all or reject our own traditional fiscal restraint and conservatism where acquiring footballers is concerned. Basically to buy Suarez and address the other needed acquisitions in our team properly we would have to spend like Chelsea and City and risk ending up like Leeds right here and now.

So unless the Club has lost any sense of responsibility as well as consistency in its operating principles signing Luis Suarez in all likelihood will end the possibility of addressing the other weaknesses in the first eleven and the squad as a whole - unless of course we sell more proven quality players, which basically would create a whole new set of weaknesses that would cost us every bit as dearly – meaning that in all likelihood acquiring Luis Suarez simply won’t on its own be the difference between us finishing third or fourth again for another two or three years and competing to win or actually winning the Premiership if we continue under our traditional business model and fiscal philosophy.

But Wait - It gets….well, even worse

This doesn’t even factor in that regardless of what you think of Suarez’s conduct and the potential risk attached with it, that Luis Suarez will miss six of our most critical matches of the whole season the first six Premier League matches we play, and while the fixture list the first two months isn’t especially overwhelming there is still a tricky trip to Swansea a possibly tricky trip to Fulham and of course a decisive Home Derby against s***s. And any dropped points will be huge both in terms of any chance we may have to challenge for the Premiership or just to ensure third as opposed to sweating out fourth again.

To not have your best most important player available at that point not because he twisted his ankle in a preseason friendly but because he bit another player is not something the Club should be ready to happily accept let alone pay £55-75 million for the “privilege” of witnessing I think.

Not when the budget could be used to address more existing weaknesses in the team and still bring in another quality striker and give us a better and more realistic chance of competing to actually maybe win the Premier League instead of all thrown into this one purchase that already will not strengthen us until October at the earliest. After all he won’t just be the world-class Luis Suarez straight away after that layoff, though strikers to be fair need less time to find their form again – unless they’re named Fernando Torres or Marouane Chamakh of course.

So It Does Get Better After All…..Ohhhhhh….

And then there is the risk of Suarez’s behavior. He will already miss two months and six matches of our Premiership Campaign because of his behavioral issues, and that ignores any potential recurrence of these issues that could lead to additional and more than likely if such behavior recurs longer bans further undercutting any positive impact he may have in that event. And if you look these behavioural problems are constant all the way back to his days at Nacional in Uruguay, and aren’t limited to just the two biting incidents or racially abusing Patrice Evra and suggest a serious question of Luis Suarez’s mental health or at the very least anger management.

Now historically Arsene Wenger did quite well with Emmanuel Petit who (I am not sure of his specific medical status) who may have had issues of clinical depression stemming form or even preceding his brother’s death which affected him deeply. So he may be better equipped than any previous manager to help Suarez manager and control his behaviorial problems effectively.

But we cannot be naïve here. While I am no doctor I think I can say that Luis Suarez’s behavior is indicative of rather serious if not severe mental health issues that have not been adequately dealt with or dealt with at all. I know some think there is - to use a very tasteless pun in this instance – a method to his madness, but really, there are far easier and even safer (this is the age of AIDS still) to get the transfer you want than biting other players or alienating every black teammate or player on the pitch.

Racial abuse

Indeed his past in terms of racial abuse of other players has been relatively glossed over in this discussion, including by myself which is both wrong and worrying on more than just this level.

But truly one of the proudest recent developments at Arsenal (if the last two or three decades count as recent) is that Arsenal has truly grown intone of the most progressive clubs in the world where race is concerned both in terms of players on the pitch and supporters off it , dating back before but particularly during the Arsene Wenger.

And while the Invincibles side of 2002-2005 probably represented the high watermark to now at least for Arsenal as a multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural side and did more to fuel that same growth in the stands and among our supporter base Arsenal remain a truly multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural team and club, and one has to wonder does a Luis Suarez have a place in such a team and club? Does he deserve one? And what would the impact of having him here be on players and staff of colour and we as supporters of colour? Should they want him here ? Do they deserve to have to accept him here? And what if the answer in their mind is no? What then

So this could be a bridge too far for even Arsene Wenger and everything Arsenal will make available to him to help Luis Suarez. Though we can be reasonably confident Arsenal have the means at their disposal to at least try and get him to a better more stable place for the short term at least

Is that what we're saying? It will get better after… COME ON!

NOTE -Quoting Arrested Development has made me feel much better about the Earlier quoting Incident.

On top of all this are little throwaway bits of info like this for a John Cross report suggesting we will be able to buy and sign Suarez

“…Now, the Uruguay international is determined to force the issue as he wants to join Arsenal - while also secretly harbouring hopes that Real Madrid will come in for him…”

And later from the same report

“…His camp they also believe there has been contact from Real and Chelsea…”

In other words it appears Arsenal isn’t his first choice but his only choice right now, and that if Chelsea or Real Madrid came in we would barely be a twinkle in his eye right now. And we are going to pay up to 70 million to sign this player? A player who will be ready to leave the moment a bigger, more successful and higher paying Club come in for him?

And that moment will be a reasonably successful incident-free, bite-less, race agitation-less season this year. He scores 20-30 goals this year regardless of how the team finishes we will have Real and PSG and Monaco and possibly Bayern Munich and maybe City and Chelsea all swooping in for him before the season even ends throwing money at him like jelly babies, Money we can’t and won’t match and do you really think he’ll show some gratitude and stay at Arsenal. More likely he’ll bite Arsene Wenger himself really I fear.

We end up right back where are now a full year later and with that much less to invest a new team to move forward or at least another new top striker. And we’re worried now?

So What Have We Learned Today Fellow Fantasy League Experts?

That Luis Suarez is a terrific striker who would be a good addition to almost every team on the planet, including certainly Arsenal at this time.

But that there are some real issues his addition at the prices quoted would bring –including

- Making it financially impossible to sign other players we need every bit as much if we are to move closer to winning the Premiership or the Champions league with him in the team.

- Being weakened competitively because his suspension means he will miss two full months worth of Premiership fixtures including a potentially decisive North London Derby which could in the worst case scenario factor into Arsenal possibly falling from the top four, but will more likely make certain any chance to compete to finish higher than in recent years evaporates.

- Risking the damage to the team’s performance and chances for improvement as well as the Club’s historic reputation and image if there is any recurrence of the behavioural problems he faced at Ajax and then Liverpool

- Facing the likelihood of losing Suarez after a successful first season to a bigger richer and more successful clubs such as Real Madrid where he would rather be right now even if it were up to him by many accounts, destabilizing the Club and team for at least another year perhaps longer even.

All of which begs far more serious questions that deserve far more serious answers.

Seriously I find it astonishing that a Club that has historically been so responsible for better or worse about protecting the Club’s financial interests and public reputation, and team’s success would suddenly decide to throw so much caution to the wind on both fronts for a player his certain to undermine the first, who could do real damage to the second, and will only have a limited impact in a limited time in all likelihood on the third. To say this is out of character for Arsenal and those running the Club historically or even more recently is to put it mildly, and one can only ask given all of this “Why Luis Suarez Now?”