Aston Villa will reportedly miss out on signing former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, with the Uruguay international set to join River Plate after being released by Atletico Madrid.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the 35-year-old attacker is close to signing for the South American giants, with Suarez set to pen his contract with River Plate once he has returned from his holiday in Ibiza, a move that will be a crushing blow to Villa’s transfer plans.
Steven Gerrard’s side had been linked to the attacker for most of the summer, with the Villa boss tipped to repeat his magic on the Philippe Coutinho deal to sign Suarez, however, River Plate have now won the race for the veteran forward in what could be his final career move.
With Suarez earning a reported £160,000-a-week at Atletico, the striker is expected to take a huge pay cut once joining River Plate, with the forward also setting his goals of being fully fit and firing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a competition that will likely be his last for Uruguay.
Indeed, Suarez opting to join River Plate throws a spanner in Villa’s plans for the summer, with Gerrard keen to add more firepower to the attacking line following disappointing seasons for the likes of Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings, who are yet to gel together.
Whilst Villa have been active in the market in signing Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Carlos, the Villa Park side need more in the forward department if they’re to improve on their disappointing league finish last season, and Suarez would have been a perfect short-term fix for Gerrard’s side.
Villa should have acted faster as River Plate win race to sign Suarez
Despite his age and injury record in recent seasons, Suarez is still one of the best strikers in football and would have been a welcomed addition to any top club in Europe, and for Villa, missing out on the forward to River Plate is a blow to Gerrard, who should have acted faster.
Whilst there’s still time to sign another attacker this summer, Gerrard and his team have missed out on a golden chance to sign a world-class striker for Villa, with River Plate now set to profit greatly from landing the Uruguay international ahead of the World Cup.
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