Liverpool have had some brilliant players pass through the club over the past 15 years.
In fairness, it’s probable that the very best of them are still at the club. Mohamed Salah has a shout to be Liverpool’s greatest ever player, while Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk aren’t far behind either.
Aside from that princely trio though, the Reds have sold on some quite terrific talent since WhoScored started collecting their data in 2009/10.
And according to a post on X from the football statistics site today, one of those flogged by Liverpool has the highest average rating since records began.
WhoScored name greatest player
WhoScored hand every player a rating based on Opta data at the end of every Premier League game. Obviously, these rankings can’t be completely objective, as that’s impossible to do.
But they do give a handy reference point for working out how well any individual has performed over 90 minutes.
So, when they released their top five players since records began today, it’s worth having a little look.
At number five, with an average rating of 7.57 is former Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla. Perhaps not as illustrious as those above him, Cazorla was a brilliant player nonetheless, as is illustrated here.
Sitting in fourth with 7.60 is Kevin De Bruyne, who’s brilliance needs no introduction. Neither does that of Gareth Bale, who comes in third with a 7.61 rating.
Just ahead of those four is Chelsea wing wizard Eden Hazard, who registered 7.64 across seven seasons with the Blues.
But way, way out in front is a certain Luis Suarez. Yes, Liverpool’s former No.7 obliterates the competitions with a whopping 7.87 average. What. A. Player.
Luis Suarez comfortable at the top
It’s great to see that Suarez’s excellence at Liverpool is still being felt to this day. He may not have been able to drag the Reds to the Premier League title in 2013/14, but he came so very close.
That year was the culmination of a steady build-up from the Uruguayan, who has a little bit hit-and-miss when he first joined in 2011.
But after scoring 11 goals in his first full season, Suarez followed that up with 23 the following year. By the time 2013/14 came around the former Ajax man was in full flow and battered in 31 goals in 33 Premier League games.
More than that though, Suarez was just an absolute tearaway on the pitch. Even if he wasn’t scoring, he was causing all sorts of problems.
There aren’t many players you can say this about really, but when Luis was on the field, you had the feeling Liverpool could beat anyone. Even against teams far better than them at the time, you felt the Reds had a chance. That was purely down to the brilliance of Suarez.
Some will argue the case for De Bruyne, Hazard and perhaps even Bale. But for us, it’s fitting that Suarez comes out on top here. He genuinely has a case to be one of the Premier League’s best ever players.
His peak seasons may well have come at Barcelona, but Suarez will rightly go down as one of the best strikers of all time. And he showed what lay ahead while at Liverpool.
Some have neatly claimed that the Reds current No.9 Darwin Nunez has a bit of Suarez about him. If Darwin can get anywhere near these kinds of peaks though we’d be mightily surprised.