MLS: Luiz Suarez the perfect nasty competitor

This week, Seattle Sounders’ star Nicolas Lodeiro said that Luiz Suarez will play in MLS someday. While there should be warning signs regarding an individual like Mesut Ozil, Suarez is the perfect nasty competitor who could excel.

Earlier this week, I published a piece discussing the pitfalls of Major League Soccer teams turning towards ageing European stars.

Through the prism of the links suggesting Mesut Ozil could be set for a move Stateside, I discussed the attitude-related problems that some teams encounter when they invest heavily in near-retirement stars that, while possessing tremendous quality, sometimes lack application.

In Ozil’s case, as Arsenal can testify, ever since he signed a bumper new near $500,000-per-week contract, his production, performance levels and work rate all plummeted. After being excellent for six months, as soon as he was handed money, he grew distracted. He has not put a productive run of form ever since that moment.

When scouting potential stars who are willing to move to MLS in the closing years of their career, as much attention should be paid to their mental make-up as their technical, tactical and physical capabilities. Those that have forged a career at the highest level of club football are more than able to dominate MLS. But are they willing?

In the case of Ozil, the jury is very much still out, and you could make a very sound argument that he wouldn’t. But in the case of another European superstar who has consistently been rumoured to be interested in an MLS move, Luis Suarez, that is not necessarily the case.

And this week, after his Uruguayan teammate Nicolas Lodeiro peeled back the curtain on Suarez’s MLS prospects, the rumour mill is again turning at full pelt. On Suarez, the Seattle Sounders midfielder said:

"“I think you need to convince Barcelona. He wants to come to MLS. He is always asking me about the league. His dream was to play for Barcelona. He’s playing at a great level and he feels comfortable there. Sooner or later he’ll come to MLS. Well, hopefully. He likes the league. He’s always asking me things about it. Hopefully, he can also play for Seattle Sounders. It may be a more difficult task. I think it’s only a matter of time before he’s out here.”"

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It might not mean much in the long run. Plenty of players have said they would play in MLS and never made it. But if Suarez was to indeed to make the move across the pond, any team that signs him would not need to worry about his commitment or attitude. In fact, to a fault, Suarez is nastily competitive. He will do anything and everything to con the referee. He will save shots on the goal line with a flying dive. He will bite opponents. Three times.

While Suarez is a largely detestable human being, allegedly a racist and cheat, as a footballer and a competitor, he is the type of European star that MLS teams should be safe to invest in. He might not carry the same class as David Villa, another former Barcelona stalwart. He may not be as cerebral and aware as Bastian Schweinsteiger. But he is a fighter, a scrapper, a winner, someone who simply loves to play football — and successful football at that.

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So should a team sign Suarez one day, you know they will be signing an intense competitor. Unlike Ozil, there are no doubts that he will fight for everything. And, should his body hold up, when combining that spirit with his quality can lead to only one result in MLS.

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