Brendan Rodgers on Luis Suarez: 'It Was the Right Time for Him to go'

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that it was the right time for star striker Luis Suarez to leave the club.

The Uruguayan forward had more than a few run-ins with the football authorities and was banned multiple times for various incidents during his time at Liverpool.

Suarez was the top scorer in the Premier League last season with 31 goals and he went on to win the PFA Player of the year award for his performances.

The 27-year-old striker has since departed Anfield to join Barcelona in a £75m move and Rodgers is sure that the Merseyside club can cope without their star forward.

The Northern Irishman had words of praise for his former striker, but feels it was the right time to let him go. He also believes that the players that they have brought in will do well for the club and is proud of the way the club has acted in the transfer market over the last couple of years.

"Luis was a fantastic player, a world class talent and whatever issues he brought off the field, he was a sheer joy to work with," Rodgers told talkSPORT.

"He obviously let himself down a number of times and it was the right time for him to go from here. But we've brought in a number of players this summer. We put it into context and we needed the players.

"In the time I've been here and with the money that's been spent, we've gone from seventh position to second position in two years and that's with a lot less budget. The budget has been really trim here," the Liverpool boss added.

However, Rodgers understands that it will be hard to replicate the goal scoring prowess during Suarez's time with the club, but is confident that they can still challenge for the title in the upcoming season.

"You can't replace Luis Suarez but you've got to replace the goals. But we got 101 goals last year, so we can afford to be better defensively, score a few less goals and still be challenging," the former Swansea chief continued.

"It's about players maturing, taking extra responsibility and stepping forward – that's the idea. When Luis played, we scored goals but when he didn't play, we scored goals and won games," he said.

The Anfield club's manager believes that Suarez became a much more prolific forward, after Rodgers' arrival at Liverpool and that the team benefited him as much he did to the team.

"Luis benefitted from the team as well as being a world class player. When I came here a few years ago, he was never renowned as a prolific goalscorer, everyone actually talked about how many chances he missed. He made himself prolific, but the team really helped Luis as well.

"So hopefully that's what people saw last year - that the start [when Suarez was banned] was really the whole team [performing] and if we can continue like that, then we can continue winning," Rodgers concluded.