Liverpool forward would fight for wins in the canteen - he is the best I played with

Via echo

Martin Kelly has revealed how Luis Suarez helped set the standards at Liverpool after joining the club in January 2011.

The Uruguayan joined the Reds in a £22.8m deal from Ajax on a dramatic transfer deadline day

Fernando Torres departed for Chelsea for a then club-record £50m swoop.

Suarez would score 82 goals in 133 appearances for Liverpool, including a then Premier League record haul of 31 goals in the 2013/14 campaign

Yet the 2012 League Cup would be the only trophy win of his Anfield career before moving to Barcelona in a £65m deal in the summer of 2014

former Liverpool defender Martin Kelly is not surprised by what Suarez has achieved in his career, lauding the now veteran striker as the ‘best competitor’ he has ever played with.

Kelly

He (Suarez) is the best competitor I’ve played with,”

"If you had a game in the changing room, in the canteen, or on the pitch, he was a winner.

“That’s what we were taught as part of the blueprint with the likes of Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, who were my idols growing up, who were all winners.

“Luis was tough as a character and I learnt a lot of South American, his traits of being a top competitor on the pitch and what it takes to be at such a high level.”

Kelly’s own Anfield career was often derailed by injury, with the one-time England international making 62 appearances for the Reds after coming through their Academy.

An ACL injury suffered against Manchester United in September 2012, early in Brendan Rodgers’ Anfield reign, ultimately proved to be the beginning of the end for Kelly at Liverpool

Yet Kelly has no regrets about the ‘what could have been’ nature of his Reds career, insisting it enabled him to enjoy the best possible career.

Kelly added

"I can reflect positively on my time at Liverpool,”

“The blueprint of coming in as a young adult and having a long career in the Premier League to get a solid foundation.

“Coming through the academy there, you’re surrounded by world class players, training with them week in and week out. "

"So to leave and go down to London with my wife, it stood me in good stead to have the best possible career.”