Luis Suarez, one of the Uruguay stars who led his country to Copa America glory last month, is among an impressive array of top players currently plying their trade in the English Premiership.
In this series, we shall be looking more closely at the careers and exploits of these talented players starting with Suarez who joined Liverpool in January after leaving Ajax in a 26.5m transfer deal.
Suarez instantly found a place in the fans’ hearts with his runs in the small box and mazy dribbles down the flanks. He was joined upfront by Andy Carroll, who arrived for a club record 35 million pound fee from Newcastle after Fernando Torres left for Chelsea.
Suarez was born in Salto, Uruguay on January 24, 1987.
He started his playing career as a striker with local side National (2005-06) and then moved to Dutch side Groningen (2006-07). Ajax spotted his talent and soon signed him up for the next four years.
In Amsterdam, Suarez started hitting the back of the net regularly, attracting other clubs to become one of the most sought-after players in the continent.
In 159 matches, he scored a stunning 111 goals, becoming the fans favourite. They gave him a rousing farewell when he left for England.
In his home debut for Uruguay (against Colombia in 2007), Suarez was sent off five minutes from time.
He went on to leave his mark in the World Cup that followed in 2010, producing some overwhelming displays as Uruguay reached the semi-finals.
In the quarter-final, against Ghana, Suarez’s cynical handball on the line in the last minute of extra-time denied Asamoah Gyan a goal that would almost certainly have made the Africa team the first ever representatives in a World Cup semi-final from the continent.
Gyan missed the resulting penalty and Uruguay won the shoot-out. Suarez was sent off.
Suarez’s Liverpool debut came on February 2 as a substitute against Stoke City. What he loved doing his entire career was continued at Anfield.
It didn’t take long for Suarez to show his wide range of skills and trickery on the field. In the 79th minute, he latched on to an inviting throughball, rounded the Stoke keeper and scored his first goal in a Liverpool shirt.
That shortened appearance also served as his first training session with the squad.
For the rest of the 2010-11 campaign Suarez went on to score four more goals. Yet, it was his assist against Manchester United that caught the eye when he sped past three players before squaring the ball to Dirk Kuyt for the Dutchman to score his first of a treble at Anfield in a memorable match.
In all, last season Suarez had three assists and created 25 chances in his 13 games, of which 12 were starts.
The Uruguayan attempted a total of 47 shots on goal that is quite a lot for the number of games he played.
He got 23 of those shots on target.
As Liverpool fans have keenly been looking forward to the new season, Suarez will certainly be fired up to claiming more silverware after winning the Copa America in the Buenos Aires final last month.