Luis Suarez Banned From ALL Football For Four Months

Hassan Ammar/AP/Press Association ImagesFIFA have handed Uruguay and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez a four month ban from football, in addition to a nine match international ban which ends his World Cup immediately, after he bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini in Uruguay's third World Cup group stage match on Tuesday. The independent disciplinary committee who reviewed the incident decided that the 27 year old Suarez was guilty of misconduct. The four month ban now throws into question Suarez's future with Liverpool: he had been widely tipped for a big summer transfer to Barcelona or Real Madrid, but the terms of his 'ban from footballing activity or administration' could put a halt to that move. Conflicting sources are reporting that Suarez may or may not be able to transfer. What we do know for certain is that Suarez will be unable to attend any football stadium or training session, missing nine Liverpool Premier League games and three Champions League games, and won't be available to play football until the 1st of November away to Newcastle United. That means missing key Liverpool games such as the August match away at Champions Manchester City. Remarkably, this latest ban means that Suarez has been banned for 40 matches without ever receiving a red card since World Cup 2010. He has proved prone to ill discipline, including using racist language to Manchester United's Patrice Evra in 2011 and biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in 2013. This latest World Cup bite prompted the severity of the ban. For a player who has had chance after chance, enough was enough for the world football governing body. Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee, said: "Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch and particularly at the World Cup." In analysing the punishment, it is hard to argue against the severity. Suarez is just a year removed from the last biting incident, where a 10 match ban clearly taught him nothing. Liverpool may now consider taking legal action against Suarez according to this report from law experts. The other option would be to stand by him and hope he comes good later in the season, but given Suarez's proven liability, and all the chances he's been given before, it looks like it could be time to move the player on. The player has also been fined the sum of £66,000, as well as being given a stadium ban. He is essentially banned from having anything at all to do with football for four months. Liverpool have declined to comment until they read the full disciplinary report. Do you agree with this punishment? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.