Wigan on Saturday evening, and his manager has ruled out a summer exit
from Anfield for the striker Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers
has
insisted that Luis Suarez will not be looking to leave the club after
another headline-grabbing performance.
The Uruguayan scored the third hat-trick of his Reds career in a 4-0
win over Wigan on Saturday, taking his goalscoring tally to 21 goals
in 27 Premier League appearances.
His manager was quizzed on whether the expected lack of Champions
League football next term will prompt Suarez to leave Anfield, but
Rodgers dismissed any chance of a summer exit.
"I don't have any issues with Luis in that manner, I sit here with
great confidence that he'll stay," he told reporters.
"Of course there will be interest in top players and he's a
world-class player, but I speak regularly with Luis and we had a good
meeting with his agent a couple of weeks ago and he expressed from his
perspective as well how happy he is.
"It's hard to say [Champions League football] is not important because
top players want to play at the top level. What he's got is a real
affinity here. The supporters adore him, he loves the city of
Liverpool, he loves being here and I think he genuinely sees a bright
future for us.
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was downbeat following the heavy defeat
and blamed "soft defending" on conceding four goals - taking the total
conceded to 55 for the season, the most of any team this term.
He told reporters: "We see the next 10 games a great opportunity to
get points, but it's clear we need to learn some lessons quickly as
the next five home games we can't defend in the manner that we did in
the first 20 minutes [today].
"We do need to improve on what we did today, that's quite clear; if we
are that soft defensively you're going to make it very difficult to
win football games."
Emmerson Boyce and James McArthur were seen arguing on and off during
the game, with a physical altercation happening when defending a
corner.
And, instead of condemning any ill discipline, Martinez instead
praised the passion of the pair.
He added: "If I'm honest with you, I am glad to see that because you
need passion, and the position we are in we need passion.
"The players can't accept defeat and it was a bit of frustration
between players, they thought we had the opportunity to win and get
three points and the reaction from McArthur and Boyce is what I want
in the dressing room."
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