Stories surfaced on Wednesday night reporting that Manchester City are lining up a £40 million bid for Luis Suárez in January. First of all, it's probable that this story has come from the Liverpool end rather than City's as the story was broken by a number of Merseyside football writers. Why, I don't know. Maybe it's come from a source within Liverpool not actually employed by the club. Anyway, the move would be an outrageously bizarre one for a number of reasons.
In the summer, City had to restrict their spending somewhat as they are looking to comply with UEFA's financial fair play rules, regardless of whether the rules actually stand up to spending. It's unlikely that any of our Mancini's signings were his first choice, in fact it's improbable, the management simply weren't willing to budge. I think City ended up spending about £30 million net, which isn't a lot for them, it's actually very little. So, to go out on spend £40 million on a forward, a position in which we are well-stocked, would be ludicrous, unless we got rid of a couple, which isn't completely ridiculous.
Suárez is an extremely gifted footballer. In many ways he reminds me of our very own Carlos Tévez, particularly in how he forces defenders into mistakes simply because of how zealous he is when out on the pitch. Similarly to Tévez, Suárez likes to have the ball for long periods of time and run at centre-backs, something which in my opinion, has slowed down City's game magnificently this season, surely Suárez would do just the same? Like I said, he's a fantastic player, the nutmeg master, so there are very few that question his ability.
Many do however, question his goal return, possibly rightly so. In Holland, well Ajax more so than Groningen, Suárez was a renowned goalscorer and even had a goals-to-game ratio greater than one for the 2010/11 season, but since moving to English has failed to apply the finishing touch to some quite brilliant performances. Of course, despite the "strikers are judged on..." argument, there is much more to a forward's game than scoring goals, and Suárez offers much more.
Then again, City aren't in need of a striker who offers what Tévez already does, in fact they are in need of a truly clinical striker, one who only needs two or three half-chances in order to score; a Falcao, a Cavani or, it pains me to say it, a van Persie. Of course any talented striker of this ilk would cost a lot of money, but wouldn't you rather spend money on something needed rather than indulging in a nice player? City already have one of those.
Additionally, the British media do like to indulge in the odd snipe at City, "City in Crisis", "Changing of the Guard" etc..Why would we offer them any ammunition? Aside from the tittle-tattle that they sensationalise regarding Balotelli's private life, most of their derogatory remarks are slanderous. With all due respect Suárez, many consider him to be an odious individual because of his diving and of course because of his racist remarks towards Patrice Evra at Anfield last term.
The move just wouldn't make any sense whatsoever for any party, not even Suárez. Liverpool would lose their best player and in doing so would be conceding that City are a bigger team than them and can't compete, despite what some of their fans may believe. City have already got a player identical to, and better than, Suárez in Tévez who is unlikely to be going anywhere soon because of his wages. As for the man himself, well, would you take odds on him being able to walk down Deansgate without having his legs broken by United fans? Next.
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