LONDON, England: Former Liverpool and England winger John Barnes hit out at wantaway striker Luis Suarez in a radio interview broadcast yesterday, criticising the “superstar” culture in the modern game.
Uruguay international Suarez is trying to force his departure from Anfield, claiming on Tuesday that he had a gentleman’s agreement with the club allowing him to leave in the close season if they had not qualified for the Champions League.
But Barnes believes Suarez should share the responsibility for Liverpool’s European qualification failures and work harder to help the club to a top-four league finish.
The former England winger, says fans are fundamentally to blame for players getting big-hea ded.
“This is the future of modern football we have created,” he told talkSPORT. “The media and especially the fans have empowered players too much to make them feel that a) they are better than their team-mates and b) they’re better than their clubs.
“We’ve seen it at Arsenal where so many players have left because Arsenal cannot match their ambitions, and the fans are the ones who have created this superstar culture whereby you’ve separated the team and the superstars to feel more important than the club.
“What has empowered him (Suarez) and the likes of (Fernando) Torres is they feel the team is losing not because of them but because of their team-mates. Suarez is saying he needs to go because they’ve not qualified for the Champions League, but he was part of the team that failed to do that.
“He has to take responsibility for that. He’s saying, ‘I’ve done my job, I’m good enough, but the players I’m playing with aren’t’.
He added: “Our superstar players feel they are untouchable. We’ve gone too far and there’s no way back.”
Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers has told Suarez to train on his own while his future is sorted out. AFP
