Liverpool needs to sign Bayer Leverkusen's South Korean attacker Son Heung-min as a replacement for Luis Suarez, a 27-year-old Uruguayan who transferred to Spanish club FC Barcelona from Liverpool, following the June 24 biting incident, British media said Monday (local time).
"Sonaldo," 22, can fill the Liverpool position vacated by Suarez, HITC Sports said, adding that the British club showed interest in him even before his transfer from Hamburg SV to Leverkusen.
Son has reportedly earned the nickname "Sonaldo," a term coined by combining his family name "Son" and "Ronaldo," the last name of Real Madrid's forward Cristiano Ronaldo, among his teammates.
FIFA banned Suarez for nine international matches and barred him from all football activities for four months for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the Group D football match between Uruguay and Italy of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil on June 24. He made his competitive debut for Barcelona on Oct. 25.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
