Loyalty Doesn't Exist

Footballers possess many qualities; skill, passion, confidence - they are a few of the main attributes of a top player. One quality neither required nor attained by many is loyalty. Players are not judged or sought for by their commitment. They are not bound to show any special kind of obligation beyond their mercy. Yet time after time, the age-old topic returns to haunt a group of fans feeling hard done-by. Luis Suarez's seemingly imminent exit from Liverpool has re-ignited the question of footballers' personal debts to their clubs.

Luis Suarez is, in many ways, a unique player. There is the irrefutable world-class player that everyone has grown to love; however more often than he'd like to, the Premier League and indeed the entire footballing community has seen his gloomy dark side. Arguably no other player in PL history has plunged into depths as low as Suarez has. Liverpool fans and legends have come out in light of these recent developments saying he owes the club a bit of respect and loyalty for this. But does he?

The plain and simple answer is, no. Of course he doesn't. He has every right to want a move away if he wants Champions League football (despite him being quoted as saying he'll stay regardless, but that's another matter). Liverpool are not owed anything by Suarez, he could not have done much more for them with the current group of players around him.

Liverpool fans are in the same position Arsenal were in a year ago. Robin Van Persie plausibly had better reasons to stay (i.e. years out injured, could've been sold etc.), compared to Suarez who, at Anfield, is being denied top-level Champions League football - a wholly more legitimate reason to want to leave. That may sound biased, but it's true. Wherever he may end up, his services are not indebted to Liverpool.

Why should a player be held to ransom by their club like that? From the fan's point of view, of course they want their players to honour their contracts and the team they play for. I think Liverpool fans should realise how lucky they are to have Luis Suarez on their books in the first place, given he joined at a time when the Roy Hodgson-era had the club at an all-time domestic low. A player that good doesn't belong at Liverpool.

Many believe that Suarez moving to Arsenal would be 'sideways'. I'm not convinced in the slightest that with Suarez, Arsenal would be struggling to get into the top four, and equally with Suarez, I'm not expecting Liverpool to get there at all. Spurs are ahead of them, despite the future of Bale hanging in the balance - Soldado will bag bundles of goals for them.

Loyalty is no longer a courtesy of the modern footballer. Having a loyal player is a privilege. Ironically, Liverpool already have that in the legend that is Steven Gerrard, and he's one of a very select few in the modern game with that kind of devotion and allegiance. 

Unfortunately (and in my eyes, embarrassingly), that hasn't stopped Liverpool legends such as Jamie Redknapp and Phil Thompson calling for Suarez to show respect with balderdash comments, for example, "Dalglish lost his job for supporting Luis Suarez". I think you'll find, Jamie, that he lost his job for not getting into the Champions League with Carroll/Downing/Henderson etc. And he had 70-odd million to spend, too. No complaints. Utter drivel.

I'm not claiming to be some sort of expert, but I'd say that things like this are proof of Liverpool starting to panic. They are losing their grip on the one man they have had to count on time after time in the last few years and their failure to deliver top-level football is leaving him slipping from their grasp. And they want him to show some loyalty. What do you think they're smoking over there at Anfield?