Suso (footballer)

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Fernández and the second or maternal family name is Sáenz de la Torre.
For other people named Suso, see Suso (disambiguation).
Suso

Suso with Milan in 2016
Personal information
Full name Jesús Joaquín Fernández Sáenz de la Torre[1]
Date of birth (1993-11-19) 19 November 1993
Place of birth Cádiz, Spain
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 12 in)[2]
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
Milan
Number 8
Youth career
2004–2010 Cádiz
2010–2012 Liverpool
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2015 Liverpool 14 (0)
2013–2014Almería (loan) 33 (3)
2015– Milan 21 (5)
2016Genoa (loan) 18 (6)
National team
2009–2010 Spain U17 7 (5)
2011–2012 Spain U18 5 (0)
2012 Spain U19 9 (1)
2013 Spain U20 8 (1)
2012–2013 Spain U21 5 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 December 2016.


Jesús Joaquín Fernández Sáenz de la Torre (born 19 November 1993), known as Suso, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Italian club Milan.

Scouted by English club Liverpool as a teenager, he made his professional debut there in 2012, playing sparingly and spending a season on loan at Almería before joining Milan in January 2015.

Suso represented Spain at various youth levels up to under-21, winning the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship.

Early years

Born in Cádiz, Suso joined the youth team at Cádiz CF at the age of 12. He first began to gather attention after a man of the match performance in a pre-season friendly in 2009 at the age of 15. Suso went on to sign for the Liverpool Academy in the summer of 2010 from his hometown club Cádiz, rejecting Barcelona and Real Madrid in the process.

Club career

Liverpool

Suso initially joined the Liverpool Academy on loan until he was old enough to obtain a permit to play for them professionally. On 19 November 2010, he marked his 17th birthday by signing his first professional contract with the Reds.[3][4] Suso made his first appearance for the first team in a pre-season friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 1 August 2010, also playing in Jamie Carragher's testimonial match on 4 September. For competitive fixtures, however, he was immediately placed in the reserves, foregoing the Academy. In the 2010–11 season, he made the joint-highest number of appearances for the side with 17, and netted three goals as he adapted well to life on Merseyside. He followed this up with five goals in 17 games during the 2011–12 season, and he also made seven appearances in the NextGen Series.

Suso on the ball for Liverpool in a pre-season friendly against Roma in July 2012

On 20 September 2012, Suso made his senior Liverpool debut in a Europa League match against Young Boys, completing the full 90 minutes and earning a rave review from Brendan Rodgers. He made his Premier League debut three days later against Manchester United in a 1–2 defeat at Anfield, replacing the injured Fabio Borini at half-time. He performed impressively, completing all his passes despite Liverpool being a man down. He then played in the next game against West Bromwich Albion six days later in the League Cup, coming on with ten minutes to play and making an immediate impact by helping set up Nuri Şahin's second goal in a 2–1 win. He went on to make his first Premier League start on 29 September in a 2–5 win at Norwich City, where he assisted Luis Suárez's third goal.[5]

On 19 October 2012, Suso signed a new long-term contract with Liverpool, receiving praise from manager Brendan Rodgers for his "maturity and commitment."[6]

On 18 December 2012, Suso was fined £10,000 for a remark he made to Liverpool teammate and compatriot José Enrique on Twitter, which The Football Association (FA) deemed homophobic.[7] José Enrique replied to these charges, saying the remark was "banter" and "just a joke."[8]

On 25 February 2013, after being shut-out of the first team due to the signings of Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho, Suso put in a performance for the under-21 team against Manchester United. His performance was not good and he acknowledged that on his Twitter account, he tweeted "Sorry about tonight.. I was having some stomach problems during all game but i [sic] didn't want to come off of the game... Again sorry!" The game finished 1–0 to United against a very strong Liverpool side that included Raheem Sterling, Andre Wisdom and Jonjo Shelvey.[9]

Almería (loan)

Suso (center) playing for Almería against Atlético Madrid in September 2013

On 12 July 2013, Suso joined La Liga side Almería on a season-long loan deal.[10] He made his debut for the Andalusians on 19 August, assisting Rodri's goal in an eventual 2–3 home loss against Villarreal.[11] In the following matchday, he also assisted Rodri in a 2–2 away draw against Getafe.

On 21 September, Suso scored his first top flight goal in a 2–2 home draw against Levante.[12] On 30 October, he helped his side end a wretched run of five successive defeats, assisting Marco Torsiglieri in a 1–2 away success over Valencia.[13]

On 2 November, Suso assisted Rodri by putting a cross into the six-yard box that was converted by the forward, who slid to meet the ball. It was the match's only goal (although highly-controversial) in a home win over Real Valladolid.[14] Late in the month, Suso scored his second goal for the Andalusians, his team's only marker in a 3–1 away loss against Celta de Vigo,[15] but was also fined for missing training due to oversleeping.[16]

Suso was then dropped to the bench in the following matches against Real Betis, Granada, Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal, only returning to the starting lineup on 26 January of the following year, assisting Jonathan Zongo in the game's only goal against Getafe.[17]

Return to Liverpool

Suso was first recalled to a Liverpool matchday squad as they began their Champions League campaign on 16 September 2014 with a 2–1 win over Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad, though he went unused.[18] A week later, in a League Cup third round match against Middlesbrough at Anfield, he replaced Lazar Marković in the 98th minute and scored his first goal for the club 11 minutes later in a 2–2 draw after extra time. He also scored twice in the subsequent penalty shoot-out, including the winner, as Liverpool won 14–13.[19]

Milan

On 12 January 2015, Suso signed a four-year deal with Italian club Milan, effective upon the expiration of his contract with Liverpool, which ended in July 2015.[20] It was later agreed, however, that he would join the Rossoneri immediately after Riccardo Saponara joined Empoli on loan until the end of the season. Due to the early cancellation of Suso's Liverpool contract, Milan paid a €1.3 million compensatory fee to Liverpool.

Suso made his debut on 27 January in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia, replacing Michelangelo Albertazzi for the last ten minutes of a 0–1 home defeat against Lazio.[21] Suso's Serie A debut came on 4 April, coming on alongside Giampaolo Pazzini in place of Alessio Cerci and Mattia Destro in the 77th minute of a 1–2 win away at Palermo.[22]

Genoa (loan)

On 4 January 2016, Suso joined Genoa on loan until the end of the season after only appearing once in the campaign for Milan. Upon his arrival he was given the number 17 jersey.[23] On 3 April, after only one goal in his previous 12 games, he scored his first hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Frosinone at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.[24] He became only the second Spaniard to score three goals in a game in Italy's top flight, after Luis Suárez for Inter Milan against Genoa in 1963.[25]

Return to Milan

After being loaned out to Genoa due to lack of confidence in him by former Milan head coach Siniša Mihajlović, Suso started getting playing time under current Milan manager Vincenzo Montella. After impressing in the pre-season and in the first matches of 2016–17 Serie A, Suso was considered to play a pivotal role in the season.[26] Suso scored his first league goal for Milan in the second matchday of Serie A against Napoli, an equalizer in the eventual 2-4 defeat.[27] He scored his first brace in a 2–2 draw against Inter Milan at San Siro.[28]

International career

Suso in action with Spain under-19 in 2012

Suso has represented Spain at U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21 level. In 2012, Suso started every game during the U-19 European Championships, where he won his first international honour.[29] He was also captain of the Spain under-20 side that competed in the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

As of 4 December 2016.[30]
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
Division AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Liverpool 2012–13 Premier League 1401[lower-alpha 1]04[lower-alpha 2]01[lower-alpha 3]0200
2014–15 00001[lower-alpha 3]111
Total 140104021211
Almería (loan) 2013–14 La Liga 3332[lower-alpha 4]0350
Total 33320353
Milan 2014–15 Serie A 501[lower-alpha 5]060
2015–16 101[lower-alpha 5]020
2016–17 15500155
Total 21520235
Genoa (loan) 2015–16 Serie A 19600196
Total 19600196
Career total 8714504 0219815
  1. Apperances in FA Cup
  2. Apperances in UEFA Europa League
  3. 1 2 Apperances in English League Cup
  4. Apperances in Copa del Rey
  5. 1 2 Apperances in Coppa Italia

Honours

Spain U19

References

  1. "Suso: Jesús Joaquín Fernández Sáenz de la Torre". BDFutbol. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  2. http://www.acmilan.com/it/teams/roster_player/11905
  3. "Jesus Fernandez Saenz". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012.
  4. "Player Profile: Suso – Liverpool's Spanish flyer". ITV Sport. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  5. "Norwich 2–5 Liverpool" BBC Sport. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  6. "Suso signs new long-term Liverpool deal". Goal.com. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  7. "Suso fined £10,000 for homophobic outburst". dailymail.com. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  8. "Jose Enrique defends Liverpool team-mate Suso after he's fined £10,000 by FA for 'gay' Twitter comment". Metro. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  9. John Drayton (25 February 2013). "FA to investigate after flares, smoke bombs and pitch invaders mar Liverpool v Man United Under 21 clash". dailymail.com. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  10. "El Almería se hace con los servicios de Suso, una de las perlas del fútbol español" [Almería signs Suso, one of the Spanish football wonderkids] (in Spanish). Almería's official website. 12 July 2013.
  11. "Valiant Villarreal open with win". ESPN FC. 19 August 2013.
  12. "Levante fight back for point". ESPN FC. 21 September 2013.
  13. "Almeria shock Los Che". ESPN FC. 30 October 2013.
  14. "Controversial win for Almeria". ESPN FC. 2 November 2013.
  15. "Celta fight back to end losing run". ESPN FC. 30 November 2013.
  16. "Francisco 'indultó' a Suso por dormirse" [Francisco ‘pardoned’ Suso for oversleeping] (in Spanish). Marca. 26 November 2013.
  17. "Almeria 1 Getafe 0". ESPN FC. 26 January 2014.
  18. Sheringham, Sam (16 September 2014). "Liverpool 2–1 Ludo Razgd". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  19. "Reds through after true penalty drama". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  20. "SUSO SET FOR MILAN MOVE". Sky Sports News. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  21. "AC Milan 0-1 Lazio: Biglia sends 10-man visitors into last four". Goal.com. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  22. Fenn, Alec (4 April 2015). "Palermo 1-2 AC Milan: Menez magic snatches late winner". Goal.com. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  23. "RIGONI E SUSO TESSERATI DAL GENOA" [RIGONI AND SUSO GENOA MEMBERS] (in Italian). Genoa C.F.C. 4 January 2016.
  24. Walsh, Kristian (3 April 2016). "Watch former Liverpool FC midfielder Suso net first career hat trick". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  25. "Luis Suárez: "Enhorabuena Suso, ahora estamos dos en el club"" [Luis Suárez: "Congratulations Suso, now we are in a two-person club"] (in Spanish). Marca. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  26. "Suso set to play leading role in Vincenzo Montella's AC Milan". 7 September 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  27. "Stagione 2016-17 | 2^ Giornata" (in Italian). Lega Serie A. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  28. "Stagione 2016–17 | 13^ Giornata" (in Italian). Lega Serie A. 20 November 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  29. On 9 October 2012, Suso received his first call up to Spain U21 for their game against Italy. "Suso". UEFA.
  30. Suso profile at Soccerway
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