Adidas Condemn Suarez Bite but Dropping Striker Unlikely says Expert

Adidas have promised to remind Liverpool striker Luis Suarez of his responsibilities after biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on Sunday.

The Uruguayan has been widely condemned for the bite and has been fined by his club, in the latest episode in a career that has seen the player make the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Now adidas, who have a multi-million pound association with Suarez, have taken the unusual step of stepping in as a sponsor.

In a statement the sportswear giant said: “Adidas takes this type of incident very seriously and does not condone Luis Suarez’s behaviour.

“We will be reminding him of the standards we expect from our players. Luis has admitted his actions were unacceptable and we support the way Liverpool are planning to handle the situation.”

There have been calls for Liverpool to sell the controversial striker, who was banned for eight games in 2011 for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, which led main shirt sponsor Standard Chartered to publicly express their concerns and hold ‘robust’ talks with the club.

However, Nigel Currie, director for brandRapport and sports sponsorship expert told iSportconnect it was unlikely that either Liverpool or adidas would be dropping Suarez. Currie said: “I think when it involves a player of the very highest quality such as Suarez, his team and his sponsors know that if they abandon him, someone else will step in, sign him up and benefit from his undoubted talent.

“In recent times in football and in other sports we’ve seen top sports stars fall dramatically from grace for a variety of reasons but in just a small number of cases has it resulted in contracts being terminated.

“It would seem the ‘crime’ has to be very much greater than biting someone for it to result in teams or sponsors looking to end the contract.”