2. Luis Suarez (Liverpool 2014/2015) – €81.72 million
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The Uruguayan record goalscorer is never too far from controversy, and the start of his Barcelona career was underpinned by it. Back in 2013/2014, he had played his best football, scoring 31 goals in 33 league games as he became the dominant force in England. Headers, freekicks, assists, dribbles and speed – Suarez had it all.
His intelligence and skill made him the heart and soul of a vibrant, thrilling Liverpool team that scored 101 goals on their way to – absolutely nothing. A defensive collapse and a lack of gamesmanship meant that they lost to Chelsea and drew to Crystal Palace in the very, very final moments of Liverpool’s best assault on the title in decades. Although he won the European Golden Shoe, the Premier League Golden Boot, the Liverpool, PFA & Premier League Player of the Season awards, his team had ‘slipped’ when it mattered most.
After he bit Giorgio Chiellini in the FIFA World Cup, Luis Suarez’s past transgressions became an easy target for the notoriously powerful English media. Barcelona saw an opportunity and offered him a reprieve and he took it, signing for the La Liga side for an immense fee.
His FIFA ban for biting was extreme to say the least – he could not even set foot in a stadium to watch games for 4 months until October. Barcelona had paid a fortune for a man who couldn’t play, but would he make the difference when he did?
At the end of the season, Luis Suarez had struck 20 goals in 25 games as he won the treble in his first season at Barcelona with MSN becoming the most deadly attack in Spanish history.
His first full season was an exhibition of one of the globe’s supreme talents. He scored in the FIFA Club World Cup final, he scored in the UEFA Super Cup final, he scored back-to-back 4-goal hauls; there was nothing he couldn’t do. He even scored 14 goals in his last 5 league matches, as well as laying on 16 assists – matched only by Lionel Messi.
It was he who broke the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly, winning the Pichichi and European Golden Shoe as their only challenger in 7 years. In just 96 games in Catalunya, he has already hit an incredible 84 goals, winning a continental treble & a domestic double. Basically, he was worth every penny.
