Suarez has to get more than seven games as lesson hasn’t been learnt

Sergio Aguero and Callum McManaman are among the players to have been somewhat leniently let off by the FA in recent weeks, but there seems no way that Luis Suarez will enjoy the same luxury.

How hard Suarez is punished though remains open to debate, with opinions ranging from the rest of the season to a full year.

The duration of the season must be the absolute minimum, but with Liverpool having as good as nothing to pay for except trying to finish above Merseyside rivals Everton, this is not much of a punishment.

Meanwhile, there is also a strong chance that this ban would prevent Suarez being crowned top Premier League goalscorer, which again does not seem a big enough sentence for such a crime.

Former referee Graham Pool thinks the FA should hit the Uruguayan with seven games.

The problem with this is that this was the length of ban dished out by the Dutch FA previously when Suarez was caught in another biting incident when sinking his teeth in the shoulder region of PSV’s Otman Bakkal.

For this reason the suspension has to be for longer as it has clearly not proved a sufficient deterrent to stop him doing the same again and as a repeat offender, the ban surely has to be greater.

Joey Barton was given 12 games for deliberately stamping down the calf of Aguero after being sent off on the final day of last season and a punishment of a similar level may suffice.

However, given that Rio Ferdinand was forced to miss eight months simply because he missed a drugs test, there is a worthy argument that what Suarez has done is far more deserving of such a penalty.

It is worth remembering that Jermain Defoe got any without punishment for biting Javier Mascherano and so if the FA want consistency, technically they should let Suarez off too.

The other big talking point is whether Liverpool should now sell Suarez as it is not the first time that he has brought negative publicity to the club.

But given that he is virtually irreplaceable, Suarez is almost certain to remain at Anfield and it is 1/6 that he is still a Liverpool player at the end of the next summer transfer window.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.