30 Jul 2014 10:59:28
Why didn't we sign Suarez when we had the chance?

I know the whole Suarez saga is now ancient history, but people on this site have consistently blamed Harry for us missing out on him. However, I recently stumbled across these two news items, which tell a different story:

Guardian: May 2011

Harry Redknapp has revealed that he considered signing Luis Suarez in January but opted against making a bid after being told by scouts that the Uruguayan was not up to the grade.

Daily Mail: March 2014

Ruud Gullit has revealed that Tim Sherwood turned down the chance to sign Luis Suarez when the striker was at Ajax.

According to Gullit, Sherwood went on a scouting mission to see the Uruguayan in Holland before he moved to Merseyside and spurned the opportunity to buy him.

They came to watch him, ' the former Chelsea player said.

'I met Sherwood together with Les Ferdinand, they were Harry Redknapp's assistants at the time and were also his scouts.

'They asked me all kinds of questions about Suarez, so I just point blank said: "You have to snap him up, without any hesitation, in a heartbeat."

'"Well, we're not sure, " they said whilst they actually watched him play.

'That's a huge mistake, if you ask me. Afterwards they said to me: "Well, we might have got it wrong."'

Personally, I don't think that Sherwood's evaluation of Suarez made any difference. Even if we had started negotiations for him, we would have been out of the picture as soon as Liverpool expressed interest. From his perspective, they were five times winners of the European Cup and Champions League while we hadn't won a major trophy in his lifetime.

No one is to blame. He was never coming to us.

1.) 30 Jul 2014
30 Jul 2014 11:33:09
What are you on about? We looked at Suarez way before Liverpool and at the time were much better than Liverpool. Players like Siggurdson and Dempsey chose us and Suarez probably would of too.

Redknapp said that Suarez was no better than what we already have and that was Pavlychenko, Defoe and Crouch I think. Redknapp, Sherwood and Broomfield are to blame.

2.) 30 Jul 2014
Spurski

I am not saying anything. I am just reporting what other people have said. Both reports support the view that Harry was relying on the opinions of his scouts (principally Sherwood and Ferdinand).

I have just done another search and come up with this blog from November 2011:

Back in May this year it was reported that the Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp, had been interested in Luis Suarez before Liverpool signed him but had been told by the club's scouts that the Uruguayan forward "wasn't up to it" and that he "couldn't cope in the Premier League."

Cue great mirth at Redknapp's expense, despite the fact that what he actually said was: "We kept looking at Suarez but people thought he couldn't play up front as a striker; they said he's like Rafa [van der Vaart] and you can't have him and Rafa or you'd have two players who want to drop deep, so that was the problem."

Speaking more recently, ahead of Tottenham's meeting with Liverpool in September, Redknapp reflected that Suarez was "a player we probably should have took, " though he raised the problem of the asking price (in excess of £30 million/$47M at the time). "We thought he played a bit like van der Vaart . we were looking for a target man, " he explained, slightly ruefully.

This blog also supports the view that Redknapp was relying on his scouts and had good solid reasons for not going after Suarez.

Of course, that turned out to be the wrong decision, but it is easy to be wise after the event.

Consider this: if we missed out on him, what about PSG, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Man United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan or Juventus. They were all in a much better position to take a punt on him than we were and if any of them had shown an interest he would never have given us a moment's consideration. Then consider all the high-priced flops we we didn't sign either.

Let's give Harry a break.

3.) 30 Jul 2014
30 Jul 2014 17:13:54
As I remember it; the explanation give by Redknapp was that he sent Sherwood and Les Ferdinand to assess Sureaz. They reported he would struggle in the Premier League.

The rest is history