Liverpool forward Luis Suarez has revealed he decided to move to the English Premier League after seeing the success Carlos Tevez had.
The Uruguayan forward plied his trade for Dutch outfit Groningen and later Eredivisie rivals Ajax, while Tevez broke onto the Premier League scene with West Ham United before joining Manchester United and then City.
Suarez said he felt he could replicate the Argentine’s performances because of their similar stature.
He told The Sun: “I watched Tevez when I was playing in Netherlands and I could see he was doing really well.
“His success was one of the things which motivated me to come here.
“I thought that if Tevez could do really well, then I could do too as I have a similar physical stature.”
Another quality the two South American strikers share is their on-field tenacity, but while it has made Suarez the player he is today, it has also unfortunately placed him at the centre of plenty of unsavoury incidents.
“I play football in a different way. I love it and put 100 percent into it but I recognise sometimes this leads to unusual behaviour,” Suarez said.
“I’ve worked hard to get where I am today and the 90 minutes on the pitch are so important to me. That’s why I fight so hard.”
Throughout the off-season, Suarez was continually linked with a move away from Anfield, with Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus touted as possible destinations.
But the 25-year-old insists at no point did he ever consider leaving Merseyside.
“There were clubs that wanted to sign me but my priority was always to stay and sign for Liverpool,” Suarez said.
“The club has trust in me because of the work I do on the pitch and what happened in the past is over.
“I’m interested only in the Liverpool and Uruguay supporters.
“Other fans, of course, are fanatical about their own teams and it’s not as if they’re going to support an opposition player anyway so I’m not interested in the reception they give me.”
