• Premier League

Gerrard: Suarez will stay this summer

ESPN staff
May 2, 2013
Steven Gerrard says Luis Suarez is happy at Liverpool © Getty Images
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Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard does not feel Luis Suarez will look for a move away from Anfield in the summer following his ten-match ban for biting.

The Uruguay international was hit with the suspension by the Football Association for his bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic and is likely to be out until late September.

That punishment has fuelled speculation the striker will seek an exit from England in the summer as a result of feeling victimised by the FA, having also been suspended by the governing body for eight games last season after racially abusing Patrice Evra.

Gerrard, however, believes the ban will only make Suarez more determined to be a success at Liverpool.

"Luis has done the right thing by apologising and taking his medicine,'' Gerrard said. "He's really unhappy he can't help the team, and he was really down when the ban came through. But once he is back from his ban we will be the ones that benefit. Luis will want to make it up to the club and the team that he has been out for so long. He will be desperate to atone for that.

"I don't think that what's happened to Luis will affect him much in terms of his future. Maybe one day we will have to accept that Luis wants to move on, and that will be his decision. But I don't see any signs of it at the moment. Luis has been really happy here at Liverpool and he seems settled here. I don't see him wanting to leave right now.''

With Suarez missing for the remainder of the season, Liverpool will be looking to strikers Daniel Sturridge and fit-again Fabio Borini for goals. Gerrard feels the club have enough strength in depth to cope for the next few games, but says money will need to be spent to bolster their attack in the summer.

"It would be a disservice to Luis to say that we can cope without him, but it would then be disrespectful to my team-mates to say that we can't,'' he told the Liverpool Daily Post. "In an ideal world we'd have him available because he makes the team a lot stronger. He's had a phenomenal season. But I have a lot of confidence and belief in the squad of players we have got. We can cope without Luis until the end of the season.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know we still need another striker. You look at top teams in Europe and at United, City and Chelsea, they all have three or four top strikers. That's something we haven't had. We had one until January. Then Sturridge came in and we have two. In my opinion, to compete at the top we need to have three or four strikers.''

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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