Luis Suárez was purchased by Liverpool on January 28th, 2011, for $36.5 million. He scored 82 goals in 133 matches over the next three seasons. He capped off last season, his final with Liverpool, by scoring 33 goals in 31 Premier League matches and securing the club its first Champions League appearance since 2009. And yet, Luis Suárez’s impact at Liverpool cannot be measured in numbers.

Liverpool’s 2011 winter transfer window simultaneously represented the high and low point of the initial “Moneyball” era in soccer. Liverpool bought Suárez and Andy Carroll for $56 million, still a record fee. And consider Liverpool’s starting attack on Suárez’s debut match in February 2011 against Stoke, where he came on as a sub and scored (it was a probably an own goal but even the scorekeeper was caught up in the moment). Dirk Kuyt led the side that season with 13 league goals that season. Midfielder Raul Meireles finished with five goals, and Steven Gerrard added four more. The side scored 58 goals in the league. Contrast that with the attacking four on Suárez’s final match this season against Newcastle. He and Daniel Sturridge combined for 52 league goals alone.

But it was never as simple as scoring in the three years in between, and his madness will be remembered as much as his goals.

In 2011, he was suspended eight games for verbally abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

The next season, he bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic and was suspended 10 matches (his second, but not final time he bit a player on the field).

On the world’s biggest stage this summer, he bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, effectively sealing his Anfield career. With goals, nutmegs, biting, Suárez did everything all the way. After the third bite, we found the answer to an age old question: the price of genius is actually $109 million, and a four-month suspension.

With due respect to Maslow, there’s a hierarchy of Suárez perception. On a personal level, taken in a vacuum, Suárez was an entertainer, one of the best dribblers in the world. As a player within the context of a team trying to win matches, he averaged more than a goal a game in his final season at Liverpool. As a club symbol, he bridged two eras. To the rest of England, he was a menace; to the world, even worse (we haven’t even discussed his hand ball in the 2010 World Cup quarter finals versus Ghana, his first act of World Cup infamy. At this rate, he’ll be responsible for ending the World Cup system in 2018).

But it goes on. For Uruguay teammate Diego Lugano, he’s a symbol of human rights. Uruguayan manager Oscar Tabarez invoked Shakespearean language in defending Suárez after his latest bite, saying that soccer is “not about morality”. Uruguayan president Jose Mujica went a more direct route, calling FIFA “old sons of bitches”.

The responses revealed two truths: first, how you feel about Suárez largely depends whether you support Liverpool or are Uruguyan. Secondly, Lugano, Tabarez and Mujica’s quotes prove Uruguay’s cast of soccer characters on par with any troupe from 17th century England. Soccer, morality, human rights, and profanities - and somewhere in the middle is the Theatre of Suárez. 

The Barcelona side he leaves for is in a mini-crisis itself, though not in the depth of Liverpool three years ago. But there is uncertainty of style and identity, which go hand in hand at the club. It began with Sandro Rosell’s presidency in 2010 and Pep Guardiola stepping down at the end of the season. In technology terms, tiki taka was disrupted by Germany’s pressing style. Xavi was a reminder that even the most intelligent players cannot out-think age.

On a domestic level, Atletico Madrid milked parts of Guardiola’s philosophy to the extreme and won their first La Liga title in 18 seasons.

On a European level, rivals Real Madrid won their 10th Champions League last season, beating Atletico Madrid in the finals. They were held under 50% possession for the first time last season since 2008, their equivalent of soccer singularity (in a match they won 4-0, mind you). When every match is a battle of ideology, sometimes you win but you still lose. 

At first glance, Barcelona don’t need Suárez. They have Messi and Neymar as the protagonists, and there’s an old basketball adage of there being “only one ball”. Then again, Real Madrid did sign Falcao and James Rodriguez. Suddenly, the quiet consistency of Pedro doesn’t seem as poetic. Suarez is Barcelona’s financial answer. But Suarez is an excellent link up player who’s off the ball movement is as devastating as his vision on it. Plus 30 goals a season fits well on any side.

The two common explanations of Suárez, and those of his ilk, is that he’s a nice person off the field, but something switches inside of him when he steps onto the field. The other excuse is that there’s a bit of madness in all geniuses. Better to have a player who can win matches on their own than a sterile alternative, we reason with ourselves (there’s also an analogy about eating cake here). Luis Suárez played only three and a half seasons at Liverpool. He left Anfield the same way he left Ajax, on suspension after biting an opponent. Symmetry has a logic all its own; it’s up to us to decipher its value.