Luis Suarez has announced that he will sign for boyhood club Nacional ahead of the new season, ending rumours that the Uruguay international will reunite with Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa.
In a video posted on his official Twitter account, the former Atletico Madrid superstar revealed that he has agreed to sign for Nacional ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which looks to be Suarez’s final major international competition for Uruguay, with the striker currently the South American nation’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Suarez said: “I’ve made the decision to sign a pre-agreement to sign for Nacional, it was impossible for me to say no to this opportunity. I hope final details will be resolved soon in order to complete the deal officially.”
https://twitter.com/LuisSuarez9/status/1552014740251107331
With 505 total career goals for both club and country, Suarez is one of modern football’s all-time great strikers, and even at 35, the former Liverpool talisman would have been a great addition for Villa ahead of the new season, with Gerrard eager to improve his side’s attacking options.
Villa had been linked with Suarez for some time, with the attacker also rumoured to be on River Plate’s radar, but now it appears that the striker will be returning home to Uruguay to play for Nacional, the club where everything started for the South American icon.
Suarez only spent one year with Nacional before making a move to Europe with Dutch side Groningen, and from there, the rest is history, as the attacker become of Europe’s deadliest strikers and is regarded by many as one of the best FC Barcelona’s best forwards ever.
Whilst reuniting with Gerrard would have been an incredible storyline, it feels rather fitting that Suarez will now instead return to Nacional, especially ahead of the World Cup, where the veteran will receive the treatment and minutes needed to be in top shape for the upcoming tournament in Qatar.
Villa should feel no shame in losing out on Suarez signing to Nacional
Villa’s search for attacking cover continues this summer, and whilst missing out on Suarez is a blow, the club should not get too hungover about missing out on the iconic South American attacker, especially with the veteran returning to his homeland to play for his boyhood side for the first time since 2006.
After all, football is all about stories like this, and Suarez signing for Nacional is a fitting way for the attacker to cap off what could be the last move of his glittering career, with Villa simply now going back to the drawing board to identify a new target.
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