Liverpool said on Thursday it would make no immediate decision on star striker Luis Suarez after he was given a four-month suspension from all football for biting an Italian opponent at the World Cup.
But the head of England’s players’ union labelled the Fifa ban as a “massive backward step” for Suarez.
Liverpool’s chief executive, Ian Ayre, said “Liverpool Football Club will wait until we have seen and had time to review the Fifa Disciplinary Committee report before making any further comment.”
Fifa’s nine-game international ban and four-month suspension from all football for Suarez’s bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini ended the controversial forward’s involvement at the World Cup.
It was the third time the 27-year-old South American star had been banned for biting an opponent. He was suspended for seven matches while at Dutch giants Ajax in 2010 and 10 matches last year, a penalty that carried over into the start of the recent English season, for an attack on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
“We felt things had got back on track (following his ban with Liverpool), it was up there for everybody to see, but of course this is a massive backward step on the world stage,” Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of England’s Professional Footballers’ Association, told Sky Sports.
Taylor added Fifa ought to have made “counselling and treatment” a condition of Suarez’s ban.
“I feel Fifa should have led the way with regard to trying to make sure that this behaviour is just eradicated and insist on there being some serious counselling and treatment for Luis Suarez because there’s no doubt he’s one of the finest players in the world,” Taylor said.
“Of course it’s not good when you’ve got somebody of such talent who spoils that talent by such behaviour and that’s why I believe it needs looking at in a serious way and that treatment course needs to be part of any sanction I would suggest.”
However, Taylor highlighted how the PFA had already helped players with mental health and anger management problems.
“I would suggest we’ve been successful in about two out of three cases. So the odds would be in favour if that was addressed seriously, but of course Luis needs to accept that and be prepared to undertake that.”
Meanwhile Liverpool great John Barnes said he was not shocked by the severity of Suarez’s ban “It is a punishment I expected,” Barnes told the BBC. “From Fifa’s perspective, nine games is a long time in international football.
“Will he (Suarez) do it again? We don’t know but all Fifa can do is enforce the rules of the articles they specify.”
Before the start of last season, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, who enlisted renowned sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters to help at Anfield, made huge efforts to persuade Suarez to stay with the Merseysiders amid talk of a proposed move to Premier League rivals Arsenal or to a Spanish side.
Rodgers was rewarded with a stunning season from Suarez, whose 31 goals in 33 matches made him the Premier League’s top scorer and so nearly saw Liverpool crowned champions of England for the first time in 24 years.
But Barnes said it was uncertain, after this latest incident and amid reports of renewed interest from Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, the club would now be as keen to keep Suarez.
“Will Liverpool say they want to sell him or wait until the ban is over, only they can answer that question.”
Depending on the outcome of Uruguay’s appeal, Suarez will miss the first nine games of the Premier League season starting in August — a sequence that includes a clash with champions Manchester City.
Source: Supersport
