When Liverpool signed Luis Suarez from Dutch giants Ajax in January 2011, there was a general acceptance that a deal was possible because Europe’s leading clubs, of which Liverpool were not one in that former phase, were dissuaded by his conduct.
Suarez, now 38 and playing Major League Soccer with Inter Miami, will retire as one of the most decorated and greatest strikers of his generation. He will be remembered by many for his incredible goalscoring record and mesmeric movements and ability to blend with attacking teammates.
But he will also be remembered for his volatile and aggressive nature. Suarez plays with his heart on his sleeve, but not always in a sporting fashion. He is both bark and bite.
Even so, he was a superstar for Liverpool, and many others besides. Trumping him would take some doing at number nine, and for all their success under Jurgen Klopp and now Arne Slot, it is something the Reds have not achieved yet.
Well, not until this summer. Now, Liverpool may have not one but two new centre-forwards capable of emulating the Uruguayan’s Premier League legacy.
Liverpool's new strikers
Meet Liverpool’s new strikers. Hugo Ekitike has already familiarised himself with the Anfield crowd, scoring three goals and supplying an assist across his first three matches for the club.
Liverpool won a charged race for his signature, beating off a number of competitors, notably Newcastle United, to sign the French forward in a £69m deal, plus £10m in add-ons.
And he’s repaying the faith. Ekitike looks at home in the Premier League, leading the line. Still only 23, perhaps the most exciting part is that Ekitike has so much potential, and there’s little question that FSG have hit the jackpot, even given his lofty price tag.
Aleander Isak hardly needs an introduction. Liverpool signed Newcastle’s star striker in a British record £125m deal on transfer deadline day, ending a month of speculation that was as contentious as it was compelling.
The Sweden international scored 27 goals across all competitions in 2024/25 and won the Carabao Cup, scoring as Eddie Howe’s side beat Liverpool at Wembley.
Erling Haaland is the only player to have scored at a more clinical rate in the Premier League since Isak left Real Sociedad in Spain and joined Newcastle for £63m. Even Mohamed Salah, in all his brilliance, hasn’t provided the same frequency.
Erling Haaland
101
90 (0.89)
Mohamed Salah
112
68 (0.61)
Alexander Isak
86
54 (0.63)
Ollie Watkins
112
50 (0.45)
Chris Wood
96
39 (0.41)
Bryan Mbeumo
105
39 (0.37)
No doubt, Isak hopes to leave a legacy comparable to that of Suarez, and Ekitike will too. However, Liverpool’s new version of the South American star is actually another member of Slot’s squad.
Liverpool's new version of Suarez
Suarez was a maverick, a game-changer. Rarely has the Premier League seen such boundless quality in one man, and he almost single-handedly dragged Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool to the top-flight title in 2013/14, scoring 31 goals and assisting 13 more as he plied a campaign for the ages.
But he didn’t quite hit the ground running a few years earlier, when he joined from Ajax. Suarez scored off the bench on his Premier League debut, netting against Stoke City in a 2-0 win.
Then the goalscorer would go on to bag just once across his first eight starting appearances in the competition. The circumstances differ, but this curious fact could be applied to contextualise the slow start of Florian Wirtz.
Wirtz, 22, joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen for a record-breaking £116m fee that was swiftly superseded by Isak. The attacking midfielder is one of the most talented footballers in the world and has earned acclaim for his performances in his German homeland.
Fleet feet and a sharp assist for Ekitike in the Community Shield issued a solemn warning to the rest of English football, but four games into the league campaign, the £195k-per-week talent has yet to break his duck.
Journalist Declan Carr conceded that the marquee arrival “has struggled since joining Liverpool”, but there is little reason for concern. As journalist Sam McGuire noted, he is a “statistical unicorn” – a “final third freak”.
Devastating in the Bundesliga and equally as mesmerising across his exploits in the Champions League, Wirtz has proven himself on every stage, and in spite of his relative struggles so far, data from Sofascore reveals that he is averaging two key passes per game for Liverpool, also winning 50% of his ground duels and completing 60% of his dribbles.
In a similar way, Suarez was always going to be a star on Merseyside. Perhaps he outgrew his reputation and potential, becoming one of the best to do it, but still, the forward just needed a bit of time to find his feet.
Suarez might not have made the fastest start in Premier League history, but he played and fought and won like a man possessed once he got going.
And Wirtz carries himself with the air of the footballing elite. You can see it when he takes a deft touch, scans and rolls his way through and into space. There’s a tenacity in his play and an undercurrent which is just waiting to erupt.
Has it been a disappointing start? Perhaps. Wirtz has not been bad, by any stretch, but those who expected him to set the English game aflame from the get-go would be forgiven, as he cost a significant sum, after all.
But Wirtz is young and adapting to a new league; Liverpool, let’s not forget, are adapting to a new system, and have emerged from a summer transfer window characterised by upheaval and change.
It is a matter of when, not if, and if Wirtz keeps on as he has been, he will soon find himself playing with all the gusto of Suarez in his Liverpool prime, and the plaudits will follow.