Liverpool are reported to have taken a shock interest in bringing Luis Suarez to Anfield, with the price tag for the Almeria striker emerging and with the Reds one of six sides linked with a move for a player who shares his name with one of the club’s modern greats.
The Reds are in the market for a new centre forward this summer after Slot decided to dispense of the services of their previous club record signing Darwin Nunez. And while talks over the Uruguayan’s sale to Napoli are expected to resume soon, a grieving Liverpool – still in shock and mourning the tragic death of Diogo Jota last week – are not in a hurry to rekindle talks of any nature for now as they still come to terms with the tragedy.
While Liverpool have already pledged to do the right thing by Jota’s grieving family, Slot will also not be swayed from his own transfer focuses, and in particular, signing an upgrade for Nunez to play through the middle and lead the line for the Premier League champions.
To that end, a number of options, ranging from the ambitious in Alexander Isak, to the more realistic, albeit costly, Hugo Ekitike, have been discussed this summer.
A third option, in Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, has seemingly now been taken off the menu if Monday morning’s update proves accurate and with the Nigerian striker instead picking a move elsewhere.
However, according to reports in Portugal, a new option has now entered Liverpool’s thinking with a potential move for Almeria striker Suarez suddenly becoming a concrete option in Richard Hughes and Slot’s thinking.
The Colombia striker – who shares his name with one of the Reds’ modern-day greats, the latter of which scored 82 times in 133 appearances between 2011 and 2014 before joining Barcelona – is now very much an option for Liverpool.
According to A Bola, Slot’s side has a genuine interest in signing the Almeria frontman, who has just enjoyed his most productive season yet, scoring 31 goals in 43 games in Segunda Division.
However, any move for the striker may not necessarily be straightforward, given the report lists five other sides who have expressed an interest in signing the 27-year-old Colombian.
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Liverpool learn asking price for Luis Suarez transfer
Per the report, Almeria are seeking a fee in the region of €25m (£21.6m, $29.4m) for a striker who has struck a total of 92 career goals across 304 appearances throughout his career.
Counting the likes of Marseille, Real Zaragoza and Granada among his former clubs, the journeyman attacker – who can play across the frontline – has had a spell in English football before, though managed not a single appearance during a three-year spell at Watford between 2017 and 2021, having been sent out on a series of loans instead during that time.
Now coming into his peak, the report claims the Reds are joined in the chase for Suarez’s signature by five other clubs, with Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Sporting CP and Sunderland also all credited with an interest.
Whether Liverpool actually make a concrete move remains to be seen. However, given Slot is likely to chase a more established option, playing at a higher level than the Spanish second tier, and given the Reds have already shelled out the best part of £190m in transfer fees this summer, two additions to play in attack do appear somewhat unlikely.
Of course, Liverpool could yet sell off a number of other players in their squad to help finance further business this summer.
Either way, journalist Henry Winter has hailed the Reds for their incredible business this summer – and not just on the new arrivals front.
Posting on his X account, Winter marvelled: ‘Richard Hughes and Liverpool obviously doing very smart business upgrading team/squad.
‘£187.5m outlay on Wirtz, Kerkez, Frimpong and Pecsi. Currently linked with Guehi and Ekitike, so potential further substantial outlay there.
‘But they’ll have generated *very roughly* £150m+ if Elliott, Nunez, Morton and Tsimikas follow Quansah, Kelleher, Trent and Phillips out.
‘In the era of PSR, spread of amortised costs and pure profit on home-grown, this is very shrewd, very successful, almost Micawber-level book-balancing by LFC.’
Liverpool transfer round-up: Isak ‘cannot be ruled out’; Luis Diaz sale reports
As for Isak, a high-profile commentator insists the prospects of the Swede departing Newcastle and joining Slot’s side this summer cannot be ruled out, amid reports that a ‘wage-structure-breaking’ contract is being prepared for the 25-year-old Swede.
As stated, the Premier League champions also like Ekitike, and the France Under-21s striker has made his stance on a potential move to Anfield abundantly clear.
An Eintracht Frankfurt official has also spoken out on the chances of the star making the move in the summer transfer window.
On the outgoing front, Liverpool could still offload Luis Diaz this summer if a mega-money offer arrives on the table and after a journalist claimed the club’s ‘not-for-sale’ stance could yet force a dramatic U-turn.
Who is the Colombian Luis Suarez?
The name Luis Suarez already evokes a lot of memories for Liverpool fans, recalling the Uruguayan striker who scored 82 goals from 133 games for the Reds before leaving for Barcelona.
Now, there’s another Luis Suarez in circulation. This one comes from Colombia and plays for Almeria – and those with the sharpest of memories may recall he has been signed by an English club before.
Watford bought Suarez from Leones in 2017, but he never made an appearance for the Hornets, since he spent his time on their books on three separate loans in Spain.
Suarez moved to Granada in 2020 and spent two years there before joining Marseille, where he only lasted a few months before returning to Spanish football with Almeria.
Their move to sign him was a loan deal that would become permanent if they avoided relegation, which they did – but the threat of the drop wasn’t something they could stave off in his first full season at the club.
Almeria ultimately suffered relegation to the Spanish second tier in 2024, but that’s when Suarez sparked into life. He went on to score 27 goals in the 2024-25 Segunda Division, which made him the top scorer in the league.
Almeria only achieved a play-off place, though, and will be stuck in the Segunda Division again for another year at least. Suarez may not stick around for it and could become their new record export after their previous sale of Darwin Nunez to Benfica.
Now 27 years old, Suarez – who has earned five caps for Colombia since 2020 – will be considering his future.
He recorded 66 shots on target in the league last season and also contributed eight assists.
Sporting CP have been linked with him as a replacement for Viktor Gyokeres, which would be big boots to fill but also shows how highly Suarez is now rated.
Gyokeres himself was a relatively late bloomer and while Suarez wasn’t an instant hit as a youngster, he too may be ready to enjoy a fruitful prime of his career.