Luis Suarez: The Biography of the World's Most Controversial Footballer

He's the best striker in soccer today—and the most controversial—and this is the first biography of the Uruguayan superstar

He has transformed Liverpool into a title-chasing team, but Suarez has also consistently grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons. In this first biography on the player, soccer biographer Frank Worrall digs deep to reveal what makes Suarez tick as a soccer player and a man. It tells the full story of how a troubled boy from a poverty-stricken neighborhood became the most coveted striker in world soccer today. By the age of 18 he was in the first team at Nacional and played a major role in their 2006 league triumph. Yet, for all the accolades he was earning, he missed his childhood sweetheart, Sofia, who had left Montevideo after her parents moved to Barcelona. Now Luis had a new ambition: to join a club in Europe so they could be together again. Fortunately, Luis earned a move to Holland and was reunited with the girl who would eventually become his wife, becoming the star player at Groningen before moving to Dutch giants, Ajax. Events took a turn for the worse when he became public enemy number one at the 2010 World Cup after handballing on the line in Uruguay’s quarter-final against Ghana. Next, his time in Holland ended in shame when he was banned for biting an opponent, earning the unwanted nickname of "The Cannibal of Ajax." In January 2011, Liverpool provided him with an escape route from Amsterdam and he quickly became the hero of the Kop with his spectacular repertoire of goals. He was lauded as the best number seven at the club since the legendary Kenny Dalglish—but also lambasted for biting Branislav Ivanovic and becoming embroiled in a race row with Patrice Evra. Hero and villain, this is the full, undiluted story of Luis Suarez, the King of the Kop.