We may have to wait until next season to see the best of Luis Suarez – Liverpool coach Steve Clarke

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Liverpool coach Steve Clarke has expressed his satisfaction with Luis Suarez‘s start to life in the Premier League, but believes the January signing will come into his own next season.

The Uruguayan struck on his debut against Stoke City and set-up a consolation goal for Glen Johnson during Sunday’s defeat to West Ham, and the Scottish coach has been impressed with the new boy’s attitude and thinks he will prove to be £23 million well spent.

He told the club’s official website: “I think he’s been good. He’s a good personality around the place. He hasn’t quite got a full grasp of the language yet, but he knows what he’s after and what he wants.

“He works hard in training every day and, as you can see on the pitch, he’s starting to settle down. I’m sure he’ll be a fantastic signing for the club.

“I think for any foreign player coming in, as has been well documented over the years, it does take a little bit longer to get the pace of the game and an understanding of the physicality of the Premier League.

“Luis is a quick learner, I think you’ve seen that in his performances so far, I’m sure he’ll always keep improving, and maybe it’ll be next season before we see the best of him.”

Clarke, recruited to the club’s staff by Kenny Dalglish in January, has been credited with a revival in the team’s fortunes in recent weeks, but admitted his frustration with the limp defeat to West Ham and revealed the team was doing all it can on the training ground ahead of Sunday’s game with Manchester United.

He said: “It’s disappointing. If you want to be a successful team, you don’t want to give too many goals away.

“The manner in which we gave the goals away is something we can address in training and we’ll look to do that this week. I’d like to be able to put it down to a one off and something that’s not going to happen very often.

“We’ll get down to the hard work on the training pitch, we’ll put a few things right and hopefully we’ll see the results at the weekend.”

Club-record signing Andy Carroll, meanwhile, is reportedly primed to figure in Sunday’s battle at Anfield, and Clarke revealed he was looking forward to seeing the former Newcastle man link up with Suarez.

“Obviously the Carroll-Suarez one is something everyone’s been talking about since the January window when we brought them both in, and it will be nice to see them as a partnership sometime in the future,” he added.