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Liverpool face 'big problem' over Suarez - Taylor

ESPN staff
June 25, 2014
Luis Suarez holds his teeth after clashing with Giorgio Chiellini © Getty Images
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Luis Suarez's latest biting controversy has given Liverpool a "big problem", according to the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA).

Suarez is the subject of a FIFA investigation after he appeared to bite Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 defeat of Italy on Tuesday.

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"He's their finest and most valuable player," PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told BBC Radio 5 Live. "There's already been talk of the richest clubs in the world wanting him.

"He does have a big value. I would imagine Brendan Rodgers would want to keep him. It's something that he and his current club are going to have to deal with and can't ignore.

"They've circled the wagons around him before and I would expect them to do the same. I've not known FIFA to impose a domestic ban as well as an international ban unless it was related to an infringement for drugs. They do have that power."

It is the third biting controversy of Suarez's career. In 2010, while at Ajax, he was suspended for seven games after he bit Otman Bakkal and was then banned for 10 games and fined by Liverpool after he sunk his teeth into Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in April last year.

Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler says that the latest biting claim may be the final straw for the club.

"Most Liverpool fans love him as a player but he's continually dragged the club's name through the mud," he told talkSPORT. "It's not right, especially after how they helped him last time. They tried to rehabilitate him. I wouldn't be surprised if Suarez left now.

"He's a different person on the pitch. I'm flummoxed, he's dragged the good name of Liverpool through the mud again, and it's not right. You can't defend him. I love him as a player but you cannot condone what he's done."

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