Liverpool don’t have to sell Luis Suárez, insists Jamie Carragher

Jamie Carragher has rubbished the suggestion Liverpool must sell Luis Suárez after his bite on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on Sunday.

The 26-year-old striker apologised to the Serb after the 2-2 draw at Anfield and Suárez has accepted an FA charge of violent conduct but does not believe his ban should be more than three games.

Liverpool have been urged to send Suárez packing after the latest incident in his controversial Reds career, but veteran centre-half Carragher feels the South American deserves another chance at the Merseyside outfit.

The former England international, who once threw a coin at Arsenal fans during a FA Cup match, insists Suárez is not the only Liverpool player to have made an error of judgement, using Robbie Fowler and Graeme Souness as examples.

“The way things are now being pitched is that Liverpool have got to do something about the rotten apple in their midst,” Carragher wrote in the Daily Mail.

“It is as if Luis is the only player to have represented Liverpool who has ever been embroiled in controversy. That simply isn’t the case.

“Every one of the players I mention regretted what happened and Luis is the same. More importantly, the club stood by every one of them.”

Carragher also moved to play down the severity of Suárez’s bite on Ivanovic, with the 35-year-old insisting he would prefer to be bitten than subjected to a leg-breaking tackle.

“The bite was shocking, no question, and everyone who has seen it was amazed,” Carragher added. “Yet was it worse than a challenge that could end someone’s career?

“I know what it is like to have your leg broken by a reckless tackle. Lucas Neill cost me six months of my career in September 2003 when he played for Blackburn. Would I have preferred to have been bitten? Absolutely.

“I suspect that Branislav Ivanovic, who has conducted himself with great credit in the aftermath, would agree.”