Luis Suarez - the definitive biography by the Weekly Sport's own Frank Worrall

He's the best striker in world football today – but also the most controversial. Banned three times for biting opponents including the shameful episode with Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Luis Suarez has also been embroiled in a race row with Manchester United’s Patrice Evra and been public enemy number one at the 2010 World Cup after handballing on the line in Uruguay’s quarter-final against Ghana. Yet on the field he has brought goals galore and glory to every team he has played for. He transformed Liverpool into a title-chasing team in 2013-14. Almost miraculously, he overcame an ankle injury operation to kill off England with two wonderful goals in the 2014 World Cup.

It was the prospect of such remarkable feats that encouraged Spanish giants Barcelona to offer a mind-boggling £75 million for his services in the summer of 2014 despite his four-month ban for biting Chiellini. Yet what exactly makes this brilliant, but flawed, man tick? What demons lie behind his cannibal acts, his cheating and his frequent bust-ups with fellow pros, and the clubs and managers who fall over themselves to employ him? Just why is Suarez incapable of steering clear of controversy? In this first-ever biography of the Uruguayan superstar, renowned footballing biographer Frank Worrall reveals the good, the bad and the downright ugly traits that define Suarez the footballer and Suarez the man.

DAVID MOYES: WHY IT COULD WELL END IN TEARS - says Frank Worrall

 

Golden handshake from The Boss.

I THINK it may well end in tears: that David Moyes will find the job too big for him and that he will leave with Fergie stepping back into the brink, just as Sir Matt did all those years ago when Wilf McGuinness failed at Man United.

In my not too humble opinion, there were only two men worthy of the Utd job - Guardiola and Mourinho. Inexplicably, Pep was allowed to join Bayern Munich when everyone in the game knows he hankered after Fergie's job. That leaves Mourinho: he should have been chosen over Moyes.

Worrall's warning to Man U.
Some random points as they zip through my head:

1. Moyes is Utd's Roy Hodgson. Just like old Roy, Utd took  him on because he is cheap and he won't upset the applecart. He will keep the majority of the current backroom staff while Jose would have wanted a clean sweep. The Glazers like Moyes because he arrives without having to pay any comp and he costs half what Mou would cost a year.
2. But just as Hodgson is finding the England job a tad too big for him, so Moyes is in for a big shock. I tire of hearing Roy moan about England's lack of players etc - and how he has so tried to convince us we should be grateful to simply qualify for tournaments nowadays. Hodgson is Mr Average: a good boss at West Brom and Fulham, but never big enough for England. Similarly Moyes. Already, I hear people saying he should be given time...that Fergie  took three years to bed in. But ask yourself this: would Mourinho ask to be given time? Or would he expect to hit the  ground running and win at least one trophy, and probably two, in his first season at Old Trafford? That is the difference: a difference of perception and expectation.
3. If you were a big star in South America, would you want to sign for Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho...or David Moyes? Or would you say, 'who' when Moyes was mentioned?
4. Moyes never won anything at Everton and has a total lack of Champions League experience. Not so Mourinho. We are constantly told Moyes did well at Everton - but he didn't win anything. Yet, on even more limited resources, Michael Laudrup won the League Cup in his first season at Swansea City. I'll admit it: I would rather have Laudrup in the Utd hotseat than Moyes,
5. Why was Bobby Charlton instrumental in choosing Moyes? My sources say it was Sir Bobby and Fergie who decided on Moyes. But Bobby has a renowned antipathy towards Mourinho because he is not the politest of chaps. Well, I am sure any Utd fan would rather have a rough and tumble guy - like Fergie, by the way - than someone who is well versed in the noble arts. And Sir Bobby, for all his talents as one of the greatest footballers ever, was one of the lousiest managers ever when he tried his hand at the tiller of the coal face. Just check out his managerial record. He is hardly qualified to judge managerial potential when he had none himself.
6. Moyes' teams at Everton have always been functional. Never entertaining and cavalier as United fans are used to, and indeed demand.
7. Mourinho was still available when Fergie and Charlton plumped for Moyes. It is a dereliction of duty that - as England did with Hodgson - they installed the wrong man in the hotseat.

As I say, it could well end in tears, with Fergie stepping back in temporarily as Utd try desperately to avoid another repeat of the Busby/McGuiness/O'Farrell farce that dogged the club in the 70s. There's a saying that doing the same thing time after time and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity - have United indulged in insanity with their appointment of another O'Farrell so many years after the original blunder? 

 

BAYERN SIGN LEWANDOWSKI - says Frank Worrall

 

HAVE just heard from my friends in Germany that Bayern have also signed Robert  Lewandowski, the Dortmund No 9.

That is a double blow for volatile Dortmund boss Klopp just hours before the start of their most important game for a decade.

Surely Bayern aren't trying to nobble their German rivals' chances of success against Real Madrid? Not.

 

 

Germany Calling : Bayern buy up Lewandowski.

MANCINI 'OUT OF CITY THIS SUMMER' - says Frank Worrall



Roberto Mancini : On the move?

I HEAR disturbing noises coming out of the Etihad for Man City fans today.

Even before tonight's Manchester derby, it appears City have decided to dispense with Roberto Mancini this summer.

It seems the club's new Spanish No 1 and No 2 (both former Barca head boys) do not want to continue with the Italian.

They would have liked Guardiola to take over but now that he has gone to Bayern, they are seemingly keen on Manuel Pellegrini, the Malaga boss.

I think it is a mad move - Mancini has brought the club their first title and FA Cup for years and may even win the latter again this term.

But the Barca boys obviously disagree if the noises coming from the Etihad prove to be correct.

THE TRIUMPH AND BETRAYAL OF ROBERTO DI MATTEO, CHELSEA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL BOSS EVER

He lasted just 262 days – 262 days that transformed the fortunes of Chelsea Football Club and finally laid to rest Roman Abramovich’s holy grail. Yes, by winning the Champions League, Roberto Di Matteo made everything Roman had done – and all the millions he had invested worthwhile. But six months later the Russian owner of Chelsea rewarded him for his brilliance…with the sack.

Roberto Di Matteo : robbed of his job.

Di Matteo was the manager who took the club to its greatest ever triumph – one which marked him out as the club's most successful manager ever - that balmy night in Munich which now seems an age ago.


Even then, as Roberto celebrated, you could clearly see from the body language that Roman didn't really want to acknowledge his part in the triumph. He never really rated him; he only saw him as a stop-gap and was really forced into giving him a full-time shot at the job until he could get his own full-time next man in (ie Guardiola).


But what Di Matteo achieved that night in Munich was extraordinary - almost miraculous, as he urged on his men to a triumph they really had no right to expect. They were playing the hosts and favourites and emerged with the cup with the big ears against all odds (including beating Barca on the way).


Fast forward six months (to now) and Di Matteo has tried to implement Roman's desire for Chelsea to play a la Barca - with three little guys in Mata, Oscar and Hazard - and passing from the back (which meant keeping David Luiz at centre-back instead of the more reliable Ivanovic).


He has had three months (from August and the start of the new season) to implement a brand new, revolutionary change in playing approach and, as the players inevitably needed time to gell and get used to each other and the new system, he found it difficult to achieve overnight. His reward was to bestabbed in the back. Betrayed for not beating or drawing with Juve away - and let's not forget this is the team who could well go on to win the Champions League. OK, there have also been a couple of dodgy results in the league too, but as Istress again, he was trying to overhaul a way of thinking; from the time of Drogba and Co, when brute force won the day, to a more sophisticated style of play. There were always going to be lean spells as the change took shape.


In essence, he was expected to work another miracle from August to November (changing the mentality and style of play) after already working one in Munich in May. His sacking was the end game – a shocking way to treat someone who had done so much for a football club close to his heart.


RDM deserved better – and Chelsea fans certainly deserve better than the interim, defensively minded joker who will surely now take their team back to the dark ages…even if it is only for six months.


Forget the dreams of being the new Barca for the next few months – Rafa Benitez will underpin his team with a dour defensive edge. Ironic that when Roman wanted to move forwards with entertaining football, he ended up with a man whose philosophy is to bring about the exact opposite.


I wouldn’t be surprised if RDM is laughing in his beer at that irony tonight and probably saying, ‘They deserve each other!’


FRANK WORRALL @weeklysport

We're all praying for you, Fabrice!

FABRICE MUAMBA’S COLLAPSE -
A DISTRESSING INCIDENT
THAT SHOWED THE
BEST SIDE OF FOOTBALL

I WAS as shocked and upset as anyone when I witnessed Fabrice Muamba’s collapse on the pitch at White Hart Lane on Saturday. The Bolton midfielder collapsed suddenly and was taken to hospital after suffering what was diagnosed as a cardiac arrest. As I write this on the Wednesday afterwards, the latest bulletin from the hospital appears to be uplifting – that he is recovering and is speaking again.

That in itself is brilliant news. Fabrice lives up to his name: he is a fab young man, a family man who has great morals and lives a good life. He is not your archetypical hedonistic Premier League footballer who splashes the cash and is always in the papers for the wrong reasons. Far from it, this is one of the good guys.

But his collapse and revival also has another uplifting side – and it concerns the more distastetul side of big-time football. For the aftermath showed another side to our national sport – a side that we do not see often enough. A caring, compassionate side that made me proud to be associated with the game.

First, a salute to the Tottenham fans at the match. They will brilliant, so quiet and clearly worried. Many of them laid scarves outside the hospital and showed that football and its various rivalries was irrelevant – all that mattered was that this young man receiced swift, expert treatment and that he recovered. I did not hear one moan or complaint from the fans that the match was called off.

Second, the medics were swift on the scene and excellent.

Third, the game as a whole – from players to fans – then went into overdrive to show they cared. Players tweeted their good wishes on Twitter, teams clapped before kick offs the next day to show their support and even Real Madrid played their part in Spain, as their big names, including Cristiano Ronaldo sent their support from miles away by wearing shirts wishing Fabrice a speedy recovery.

I found the widespread compassion and backing very moving – the incident itself was both dreadful and dreadfully upsetting, but the attitude of the big stars and their clubs and fans afterwards made me proud to be associated with what we term the Beautiful Game.

Beautiful indeed – and get well soon, Fabrice, from all of us here at The Weekly Sport.



ERIKSSON RATHER
THAN PEARCE FOR
ENGLAND CARETAKER
IN THE EUROS

MOVING into a more critical role, I must admit I am finding it hard to believe – but my spies in Soho Square tell me that the FA are seriously contemplating putting Stuart Pearce in charge of England for the European Championships this summer.

Surely the buffoons in charge can see that he is not up to the job?

They need only look back at how we fared against Holland recently when Pearce was given a run-out in the top role for clues.

Yes, we lost and were outplayed but that might have been expected against the World Cup runners-up.

More worryingly, we lost because Pearce did not pick the right men for the job. I was all for him going for youth – but then he left out THE young player of the moment…Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain!

And he started with Adam Johnson who can’t even get in the Man City first team!

No, if we must go with a caretaker at the Euros, why not ask Sven Goran Eriksson to step in? I know, he became a figure of fun at the end of his reign, but he did the business – getting England to two quarter-finals, much better than Capello ever did.

He knows the players well, he is cool and he is a good ambassador. Let’s face it, we’re not going to win it, not with the likes of Spain, Germany and France in our way. In fact, with Pearce in command, I would not be shocked if we even ended up bottom of our group and exited at the first stage.

We need an experienced hand at the helm. Not a novice, Pearce has no record of success as a manager at this level – or even at major club level - and he could well clash with the senior players like John Terry and Frank Lampard. Pearce is the type who likes to make a statement of intent and to stamp his authority – by dropping some big name or leaving someone out…as he did with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Better the devil you know in Sven than a bloke who is unproven and unpredictable. Trust me.

FRANKIE’S FLUTTERS

LAST WEEK I called it right on the Formula 1 opening round at Melbourne when I said…‘And the F1 in Melbourne – call me a silly dreamer, but I’m going for Hamilton or Button!’ Button duly won and Hamilton came home in third.

I also predicted a big win for Man United at Wolverhampton.

So now you know…Frankie and The Weekly Sport can be relied upon to give you a reliable guide for when you head to the bookies!

This week I’m going for football and F1 again.

On Saturday the biggest match of the weekend takes place at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea take on Spurs in the Premier League. Both teams need the points if they are to grab one of the four all-important Champions League places on offer – and so the stakes couldn’t be higher. Given that, I’m going for a draw, a point apiece and a scoreline of 1-1.

On Sunday the new F1 season continues apace with the Malaysian GP in Sepang. I’m taking Red Bull’s Sebastien Vettel to repeat his win of last year and Jenson Button to also replicate his runner-up spot from 2011. Hamilton finished eighth last time, but he would surely be in the top four on Sunday.



FRANK WORRALL
(For more information on Frank and his bestselling sports books, see www.frankworrall.com)

Weekly Sport readers can buy Frank’s insightful book on Sir Alex Ferguson for the special price of only £2.74 on Kindle (retail price £17.99 for the hardback)…go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Fergie-Wonderland-Biography-ebook/dp/B00603XJB8/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326291046&sr=1-7