IT makes no odds.
I understand why people think it does. I understand the recourse to emotion. That’s the aim.
It makes no odds.
When he ran out on Saturday Suarez may have been surprised by the warmth of the response. I suspect his agent was. I suspect it made him think, we’ve got to do something about this. We need these people to barrack him. We need to do an interview which separates him from them. This is the next step. It is the only step. We need to do something to bring this move about.
It makes no odds.
It’s a manipulative move. By player, by agent. But it is merely saying publicly what has been said privately to the club. It is the explicit articulation of a number of implicit leaked noodles to newspapermen. You knew Luis Suarez wanted to go. You know he really wants to go. He wants to play at the highest level and currently Liverpool cannot offer that.
It makes no odds.
The crux of it isn’t unreasonable. This is where we are. We end this forthcoming season 4 years and six months on from our last Champions League fixture. Luis Suarez is, in my view, the best attacking footballer in the world who doesn’t currently play for Barcelona or Real Madrid. He ought to have the opportunity to play at that level. His talent isn’t wasted at Liverpool – it’s appreciated like nothing on earth. It’s a glorious, marvellous, rambunctious thing. It should be showcased in European Cup Finals as Zidane’s and Messi’s, Dalglish’s and DeStefano’s has been.
It makes no odds.
The player is under contract at Liverpool. Now presuming that the clause doesn’t oblige Liverpool to accept anything (and this had better be the case or Liverpool’s competence question is only going to go nuclear) the reality is that Liverpool choose whether he stays or goes. Liverpool choose what to do with an offer of forty million and one pound. Liverpool choose.
The situation is that Liverpool’s challenge for a finish fourth or higher is easier if Luis Suarez doesn’t play for anyone this season than if he plays for Arsenal and Liverpool have fifty million pounds to spend. This is the reality. This is where we are as well. What stuns me is that Arsenal haven’t offered sixty or seventy million pounds for the player. Because any amount he is worth to Liverpool he is worth that plus ten million to Arsenal. He is the player who would cement them in the top four barring catastrophe. He is the player who would make them genuine contenders.
But it would make no odds.
A sale to Arsenal is suicide for a Liverpool dangerously close to coma – though showing serious signs of fight I believe – regardless of what Suarez does. A sale to Madrid slightly less so but still gives Liverpool a question hugely as to how they effectively spend any money.
I love the expression “it makes no odds”. What exactly does it mean? It doesn’t make that much sense in theory but it is almost onomatopoeic. It’s what not being impressed sounds like. It’s your mouth shrugging.
It’s the response. Garments shouldn’t be rent, hair should remain in the scalp, tears shouldn’t be shed and shirts should remain uncharred.
Let’s not give anyone what they want. No heat. No light. No shouting. Just a collective “It makes no odds. Lad.”
Soz abar that.
I can see this being another Tevez saga. He’ll go on protest, disappear to Uruguay (probably getting a part time gig on Uruguayan radio), try and engineer a move in January, then panic when its getting close to the World Cup so he’ll come grovelling back and play the last month or so for Liverpool.
Probably move to Madrid for 20 odd million next summer. I’m happy with that to be honest. I’d rather he rotted in the reserves for 3 years than sell him to Arsenal.
This is by far the best take on what Suarez and his agent is up to. Well done Neil for pointing it out. Twitter is already ablaze with fans saying they just want rid. It is exactly what he wants and like Neil says ‘Let’s not give anyone what they want’
It’s your mouth shrugging, I love it! Great piece as usual cheers!
It really makes no odds.
Love the club, not the players.
You have hit some major key points here. No player is bigger then the club, but this doesn’t mean we keep Suarez at all costs… I does, however as you say, mean selling to Arsenal is the worst thing the club could do.
Stay or go, if we still have any ambition, Suarez can not sign for Arsenal
I love how you try to grammatically prance around. Do you know what an onomatopoeia is? Evidently not. Suarez won’t go for his true value because he has a 6 game ban to serve and he has publicly requested a move. It’s all about supply and demand. Also Suarez wasn’t even Arsenal’s first choice and we all know how tight Wenger’s trousers are.
But good luck all the same
Surely Neil is prancing stylistically rather than grammatically no? But then, your post shows that you clearly have no concept of style……
Love the ‘Soz’ tag
Boss piece – no emotion just the ‘facts’ of the transaction – love it!
The repetitive use of the ‘it makes no odds’ phrase takes an already boring column and turns it into something mildly irritating.
It makes no odds.
Suarez & his agent are getting desperate. No bids from Real. No legally binding clause. No chance of Liverpool selling to Arsenal. That interview was all about making his position at the club untenable. I’d rather let him do a ‘Tevez’ than sell him to Arsenal.
So, do we bench him from October onwards? Give him the option of playing in the Ressies like Kewell under Rafa? Or wait until the January transfer window – as you mentioned in the podcast – when we might be in a stronger position?
Whichever way, you’re right – it makes no odds. He’s leaving in the end.
Brilliant piece again mate. The reasons why Arsenal have not made the £60-70 million offer you suggest are simple ones. The first is that they know he wants to go and they obviously think that he will eventually hand in a transfer request and that they can get him on the cheap. The second is that Wenger knows he needs to improve his squad with more then one player and Wenger doesn’t have as much money as everyone thinks he has. The third and most important of all is to do with the ‘baggage’ that signing Suarez brings. Is that ‘baggage’ worth £60-70 million it could cost to get him in, even though he would nail the top 4 position and potentially make Arsenal title challengers?
Seriously, though, I don’t understand why people keep saying that Suarez (or Bale) cannot be kept. They are under contract, for several more years. They can hand in a transfer request – and the club can reject it. The PFA can myther the club, telling us how unfair we are being, but unless we are acting illegally, I cannot see how the move can be (as reported several times) “forced through”.
Mind you, my confidence in Ayre and our legal representation, based on historic evidence, is somewhat lacking…
Bang on Neil. Great article.
I hope the club are working behind the scenes, trying to flog him off to a foreign club. Atletico are in the CL aren’t they?
Suarez for Costa plus cash?
I have to agree, after all the screaming and shouting…actually we are in no different position to where we were the day before (with the usual caveats) – other than questions about his state of mind.
I’ve always suspected that apart from having a peculiar funny bone in his brain, there is also sometimes appears to be something missing – hard to believe when he has such exquisite intelligence at his feet. For example its difficult to know whether he believes his rationalisation of the effect of him going from Liverpool to Arsenal, whether he has joined all the dots, or whether its simply not his priority.
Perhaps his interviews are a Machiavellian plot to devalue him to the club and fans – he has certainly given ammo to those that supposedly hounded him – perhaps orchestrated by his agent, more fantastically from Arsenal, or, pure hammer horror, from Real Madrid (mwahahahaaaa….). Or its just a Reina style misguided whinge. Or a bit of both.
A year ago, when the ‘project’ might have been nothing more than PR spin and a glint in Rodgers eye, this all would have been a bit of a catastrophe. Now, the ‘project’ is palpable and there are tangible reasons for optimism, and perhaps, misdemeanour aside, we can and should be more grateful to Suarez for carrying our season while we got on our feet again.
Because now, as you say, it makes no odds – with one crucial caveat: we are about to find out whether what we are starting to see on the pitch is going to be matched by backbone and competence off it.
I’d personally take £80-90 million for him if we could reinvest the money in Lamela, Papadopoulos and one more top class signing. I think Sturridge is better at CF and Lamela would be a better fit at RW than Suarez.
The chances, however, of all that happening are slim, so no need to sell him if we don’t get such an outrageous offer. Especially not for anything like £50-60 million when Bale is going for £100 million.
Great Post. Can’t help but think that Madrid coming in for him will be the best result for the situation we are now in. £50 million and him NOT playing for a top-four rival!
Great piece, as usual.
Has anyone considered that another reason for Wenger’s tight fistedness is the amount that the Arse have to pay in agents and signing on fees for Suarez….
Lets not kid ourselves that the motives are football / career related, but 100% financial.
Added to the reasons given by Neil, if the famous ‘clause’ was so water tight, then there would be no reason to try to force the transfer through via the media machine he despises.
It just makes a mockery of contracts , wish the club would turn to him and say you signed for us for another 4 years (i think) so live with it . You are being handsomely paid and millions of people are watching you around the world every week, i hate that terrible cliche that pundits spout out that “you can’t keep a unhappy player”… these people are supposed to be professionals ( i know i’m being nieve) just get on with your job and it raises the sheer madness of contracts if you sign for 5 years (which recently seems to be the kiss of death in football as when players move it comes out that just 14 months ago they signed a new 5 year deal) and after just 1 year you decide you want to move on….clubs should know this happens and should be prepared for it. Why should someone who commits to you for said amount of time and receive massive signing on bonuses and such , then a few months down the road suddenly get unhappy and you have to move them on because they will be “un happy”…. screw that they are professional (you would assume) so tell them to get on with it..i hardly think people will jump to defend the case of a footballer being paid millions a year just to turn up and run about for 60 minutes (that’s really about the amount of time that the ball is in play) once or twice a week would get any sympathy.
I don’t understand why my fellow Liverpool supporters get so emotionally attached to player. Emotionally attached to someone who isn’t and nowhere near being a club legend. Emotionally attached to someone to someone who has a history of making his stay at a football club untenable and eventually force his way out. It was always going to end this way with Suarez.
What would happen if Arsenal lost interest and Suarez had to stay cause no one wanted him,would we the fans be so forgiving.
…and we’ll have to go through it all again with Coutinho……
Not so sure about that. Coutinho has a bit a class about him and hopefully we will be in the Champions League next year with his help.
Keep him, make him sit on the bench, or he can piss off to Uruguay, but Arsenal’s 40 million and 1 quid should get the response it seemed to be begging for. Fuck Off. Hang on a sec, how the fk did Arsenal know about the 40m clause? Had they some contact with his agent or himself? Isn’t that against some rule somewhere that only gets enforced if you’re very unlucky?
See: Ziege, Christian.
It just makes you think about the racism with Evra and biting though doesn’t it?
I understood his wish to get out of the media limelight here.But London? There’s something else going on.
He’s a totally unsavoury character.He’ll score goals then get banned for some other incident.I believe that The Club tried to help.But recent comments make me believe that he’s beyond help.
It’s a shame really but just get shut! Take the money and move on.
I thought I understood his motives and was happy to go along with them.It’s not like that though is it? He comes out with other stuff.
If he had said at the beginning that LFC had said he could move if we weren’t in the Champions LeagueI I could even have accepted that.I bought the media story.
So just let him finish up like some others who have moved on.We won’t really miss him!