Luis Suarez, second right, and his Barcelona teammates celebrate duringthe 5-0 win over Espanyol. Alex Caparros / Getty Images
Luis Suarez, second right, and his Barcelona teammates celebrate duringthe 5-0 win over Espanyol. Alex Caparros / Getty Images
Luis Suarez, second right, and his Barcelona teammates celebrate duringthe 5-0 win over Espanyol. Alex Caparros / Getty Images
Luis Suarez, second right, and his Barcelona teammates celebrate duringthe 5-0 win over Espanyol. Alex Caparros / Getty Images

Luis Suarez, on cusp on another landmark at Barcelona: ‘I never thought I would fit in the way I have’


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VALENCIA // Luis Suarez could overtake the goalscoring record at Barcelona of fellow Uruguayan Ramon Alberto Villaverde Vazquez this weekend, having equalled in only two seasons what his compatriot aggregated in a decade with the club.

Barca are one point clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and a win in their final game at Granada on Saturday would seal the club's 24th league title.

A double against Espanyol in Barca’s 5-0 triumph last Sunday saw Suarez, 29, reach 81 goals for the Catalans, equalling the record of Villaverde Vazquez, who joined the club in 1954 and played 10 seasons, scoring 81 goals in 224 games.

See also:

• Jonathan Raymond's five games to watch: Friday football, Barcelona and Real Madrid gunning for the title

• Andy Mitten's La Liga in focus: Barca key is Luis Suarez, the best centre-forward in the world right now

• Poll: Barcelona or Real Madrid — who will win the Primera Liga title?

“I never thought I would fit in the way I have,” Suarez said in an interview with ESPN in which he also thanked those around him at Camp Nou.

In only his second season at Barcelona, Suarez has struck 50 goals in all competitions this season to help the team remain in contention for a domestic double, overtaking his previous record of 49 for Ajax in the 2009/2010 campaign.

“Obviously someone has to put the ball in the back of the net but the credit goes to the whole team,” Suarez said.

“My teammates have been trying to help me score goals. Leo [Messi] and Ney [Neymar] have let me take penalty kicks. I’m just enjoying it.”

More goals are expected from the Uruguayan, who has found the back of the net in four successive league games, netting 11 goals while setting up four more in that spell.

On the club website, Barca coach Luis Enrique praised Suarez’s intelligence.

“Sometimes relying too much on one player can hurt you, but if the team plays its game, Luis, who is lethal in the area, will have plenty of chances to score goals,” he said.

“It’s not just the goals, it’s the way the team plays that lets him score.”

With 37 league goals scored so far, four more than Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Suarez is on the verge of clinching the Pichichi award as the top scorer in La Liga.

That would break a trend that has seen the award go to either Ronaldo or Lionel Messi in every season since 2008/2009, when Atletico Madrid's Diego Forlan, another Uruguayan, won.

“Because I’m in the running, in recent games, they have looked for me more so I can score,” Suarez said.

“I never imagined I would be here in Barcelona and that I would have a chance to be Pichichi.”

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For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

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• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.

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