He has known his share of frustration during a twisty, stop-start career, but the one thing that really grates on Denis Suarez is that he was not able to show what he could do during his infamous loan spell with Arsenal.
When the Spaniard arrived in London as a 25-year-old in January 2019, on loan from Barcelona for the rest of that season, he had unfinished business in English football. In his late teens, he’d spent two years at Manchester City, only to be sold before being given a chance in their first team.
Waiting for him at Arsenal was Unai Emery, a manager he respected and admired. The two had previously worked together at Sevilla, winning the 2014-15 Europa League in what was Suarez’s breakout season at the top level. When Emery called him and offered him the chance at a reunion in the Premier League, the decision came easy.
The rest, however, did not.
Suarez, restricted by a string of injuries, managed just 95 minutes in an Arsenal shirt, spread across six substitute appearances. He is remembered in England — if he is remembered at all — as one of those strange, panicky late-January gambles, a relic of the club’s confused and confusing post-Arsene Wenger era.
For Suarez, who now plays for Villarreal back in La Liga, it was an exasperating four months.
“It was such a shame, honestly,” the 30-year-old tells The Athletic. “I arrived at Arsenal and had physical problems. I wasn’t able to reach my normal level, no matter how much I tried. It would have been different if I had been fit and able to compete. But it just didn’t work out.”
Suarez struggled for minutes at Arsenal and made just six appearances (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)
There were certainly no hard feelings. “I thought the club was fantastic,” he says. “It’s a privilege to be able to say that I played for Arsenal, one of the greatest clubs in the world.” But there was a ripple effect. The failed Suarez experiment was often cited in the wider debate about Emery and his suitability for the Arsenal job.
“It was disappointing for me, but also for Unai,” says Suarez. “I know he was criticised for signing me, because he requested me and rejected other options because he knew me.”
Five and a half years on from Suarez’s departure, Arsenal are a different club entirely. Manager Mikel Arteta, understandably, has taken a good portion of the credit for the transformation. Suarez, though, believes that predecessor Emery — who was sacked in November 2019 — might have achieved similar success to their fellow Spainard had he been given more time.
“Unai is a top coach and I think he was treated very unfairly at Arsenal,” says Suarez, of the man who won two other Europa League finals with Sevilla, then another with Villarreal and was appointed by present club Aston Villa when they were just above the Premier League’s relegation places and, less than two years later, delivered Champions League qualification.
“He took over from Wenger, who had been there for so many years. People were not as patient with him as they had been with Wenger in certain moments.
“When you change a coach that has been there for so long, you look for a new identity. I think Unai was creating one at the club. It was a period of transition, both in the playing squad and the infrastructure. The process takes time. Unai took them to a Europa League final and finished in the top five, but they didn’t let him finish the job.
“It’s true that Arsenal are doing very well under Arteta, but it could have been the same with Unai. You just have to look at the job Unai has done at Aston Villa. His record speaks for itself. If they had given him a longer run, Arsenal would soon have been fighting for the league and the Champions League. He’s not far off that now with Aston Villa, who are one rung below Arsenal in terms of club profile.
“Plus, if you compare Arteta’s team with the one Unai had at Arsenal, it’s night and day. I’m not sure a single player from Unai’s side would make it into the line-up today.”
There is a curious pattern to Suarez’s career. He came through the youth ranks at Celta Vigo, and rejoined them from Sevilla in summer 2019 after his loan to Arsenal. He previously swapped City for Barcelona in 2013, but didn’t get to play for the latter’s first team until he went back to Camp Nou for a second spell three years later. This is also his second stint with Villarreal. He is clearly no believer in the old ‘never go back’ maxim.
“You don’t usually find yourself in situations where you can do that,” Suarez says with a smile. “But I have been happy at different clubs and have created connections. That’s why I get other opportunities.”
One of Suarez’s two first-team appearances for Manchester City, in the League Cup against Aston Villa in 2012 (Andrew Yates/AFP/GettyImages)
A smart, technical midfielder, Suarez was a youth-team darling but it took time to find his feet at senior level.
At City, he found the path to the first team blocked when Manuel Pellegrini replaced Roberto Mancini as manager in summer 2013. It was a similar story first time round at Barcelona: Tata Martino, their manager when he signed, liked the look of him. Luis Enrique, Martino’s successor a year later, wasn’t so sure.
Suarez proved his quality at Sevilla on loan and then with Villarreal, earning a move back to Barca. He helped them win La Liga and the Copa del Rey (Spanish football’s FA Cup equivalent) twice each during that three-year stint, but an injury-hit 2018-19 season, which included his loan to Arsenal, was his last with the club.
Back in Vigo, a stone’s throw from where he grew up in the far north-west of Spain, there was finally continuity. Suarez, injury-free, was a pillar of the Celta side for three seasons from 2019-20, reminding everyone of the talent that had first made him such a hot property. He was settled and he was happy.
At which point came a bizarre row with Carlos Mourino, Celta’s president at the time, who accused Suarez of hawking the club’s academy players to bigger clubs through an agency in which he owns a small stake.
“Denis has put his own interests ahead of those of the club,” said Mourino. “If he stays with this agent, he cannot renew his contract and it will be very difficult for him to play here.”
That was not Mourino’s only public broadside. Suarez, despite being one of Celta’s best players, eventually had no choice but to depart, initially on loan to Barcelona-based Espanyol, and then to Villarreal on a permanent deal. Even now, 18 months after the latter move, he seems completely baffled by what happened.
“I don’t think anything like that has happened before in football,” he says. “I’ve never seen anything similar anywhere in the world. A president coming out and laying into one of his own players every two weeks… I think it was personal. I have principles. If a person in a position of power doesn’t respect me, I’m not going to change for them. I’m nobody’s slave. Nobody is my master. I stand on my own, even if it’s somewhere else.
“What I do resent is the impact on my parents. I’m from a village near Vigo and the situation was difficult for them. But it’s done now. I don’t hold any grudges.”
Suarez rekindled his career at Celta Vigo before his time there turned sour (Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
It helps that he is happy at Villarreal.
“It was a very simple decision to come back here,” he says, looking out over their training ground. “Look at every club in the world that is as competitive as Villarreal and you won’t find anything like it. Villarreal are battling for the European places every year, trying to win trophies, but it’s a family club.”
(Although its football team is known across Europe, the town has a population of just over 50,000.)
“The demands come from within rather than outside,” he says. “There isn’t this big pressure from the media or from a huge population. That can be a good or a bad thing for a player. You can be too relaxed. But some players thrive and it’s a good place for youngsters to develop. You just have to know that when you go elsewhere, it won’t be the same. Of course, every place has its pluses and minuses, but this is unique, an example to other clubs.”
Suarez has observed much of Villarreal’s recent progress from the sidelines, as a thigh injury kept him out for much of last season and he has only made one league start 15 games into this one.
“It’s hard, because I want to be out on the pitch, playing and contributing,” he says. “I’m more motivated than ever to return and show what I can do. Everyone wants me back, wants me fit. The main thing is just to get a run of games. I don’t think I have lost any ability.”
He is equally optimistic about Villarreal’s chances of building on their impressive start to the campaign.
Coach Marcelino Garcia Toral has them playing exciting football and results have been mostly positive: the team known as the Yellow Submarine because of the colour of their home kit are fifth in La Liga, six points behind fourth-placed Athletic Club, though having played two fewer games.
“I think the outlook is very positive,” says Suarez. “We have some very young players and others with a lot of experience, guys who have played for big clubs. I think we have everything it takes to qualify for the Champions League. It won’t be easy, but if everyone plays to their level, I think we’re big candidates.
“Obviously, it’s very tough, because there’s Barcelona and Real Madrid. But it does mean that winning anything with a club like Villarreal would be all the more special.”
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(Top photo: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce via Getty Images)
