Suarez has 'mentality of a child'
CHILD'S PLAY ... Luis Suarez was banned last week for biting Branislav Ivanovic
LUIS SUAREZ has the “mentality of a child”, according to the man who gave him his first major break.
The Liverpool ace was banned for 10 games last week after biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
And Henk Veldmate, who brought Suarez to Holland from Uruguay as a 19-year-old in 2006, has given an insight into how the Kop bad-boy thinks.
The FC Groningen sporting director admitted: “He’s a grown up person but also, in the way he likes playing football, he sometimes has the mentality of a child.
“That’s the way he enjoys playing. If you compare the mentality and attitude to Dutch players, then in South America it’s dead or alive.
“To do the best for you family — it’s a way of life and a way of surviving.”
Veldmate stumbled upon Suarez after travelling to Uruguay to watch another player.
But he asked to sign the then Nacional striker after seeing him play for just 15 minutes — in a game where he DIVED to win a penalty.
Veldmate, speaking on tonight’s 5 live Sport documentary ‘What’s Eating Luis Suarez?’, said: “He had everything you see today — he scored a goal and did some fantastic dribbles.
“Sometimes you think he is lucky with his dribbles — he starts something and you think it is impossible. But in the end it works and he creates a chance and scores a goal.
“He dived to win a penalty, so all the things we see in Luis’ potential we saw in that 15 minutes and most importantly we saw he was a winner.”
DUTCH OF CLASS ... Luis Suarez during his time at FC Groningen
Brazilian midfielder Hugo Alves, who helped Suarez settle at Groningen, was not surprised to see what his pal did to Ivanovic at Anfield last month.
He said: “Luis is the type of player that once inside the box he is capable of anything to score a goal or to get the ball from an opponent.
“Obviously this kind of thing shouldn’t happen, cannot happen. It’s happened to him. He does anything to win. He is a winner.
“And because of his way of thinking, if he is in the heat of the moment, full of emotion, he makes these kind of mistakes.
“In the middle of an emotional game, he can vent it in a wrong way.”
Ajax team manager Herman Pinkster, who worked with Suarez at the Dutch giants, added: “When he regrets something he is really sorry for that.
“But when he has the full commitment that he is 100 per cent right, he never will regret things.”
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