Is This Young Chelsea Star the Answer to Our Problems?

THERE have been some strong reports in recent days linking Daniel Sturridge with the club and, should the price be the right one, it would be hard not to be intrigued by the idea of the young Chelsea striker moving up to Merseyside.

Further reports this morning indicated that Chelsea are themselves in the market and with an apparent bid having been placed by the London club for Wigan Athletic’s young striker-come-winger Victor Moses.

Of course, Wigan have let Dave Whelan off his short leash again and he’s mouthing off to the press about the insult caused by Chelsea’s £4 million bid but that is just a cheap, overused tactic of his to bump up the price.

If it turns out that the Blues are actually interested and pursue the transfer then that could certainly leave the way clear for Liverpool to move in for young Sturridge and it would be a surprise if they didn’t go back with a higher bid because while Sturridge had a pretty effective season for Chelsea last season, he seemed to drop back in the pecking order once Di Matteo took over so he may well not be a part of the new bosses’ plans.

It’s hard to say what kind of a fee that Chelsea would be looking for but for a player of his age and ability, it would almost certainly be well in excess of the £4 million they’ve reportedly bid for Moses. And while I’d be reluctant to see the club extorted, I think somewhere around £12 million would be acceptable, particularly when a player of equal ability with more experience could no doubt be acquired from the continent to supplement the attack.

But the one thing that would be in Sturridge’s favour above a player from the continent would be his Premier League experience. At the age of 22, he already has over 85 games in the EPL under his belt, along with another 40 or so in cup and continental competitions. Coupled with his speed, pace and direct attacking game, he would compliment our forward line in ways we sorely missed last season.

Capable of playing either on the wing or as a striker, he would enable us to alter our plan of attack without taking drastic action and he’d be capable of playing right across the front line over the course of a whole game. The one issue that may be raised against him is his games-to-goals ratio. With just 36 goals in over 120 professional games, he may not look like the answer to our problems.

However, anybody that saw him playing for Chelsea last season – a team who, traditionally, play a slow, patient build-up game – would know that he was capable of great goals and was a big threat whenever he was on the pitch, despite only occasionally getting the opportunity to play up front. Most of his appearances over the 3 seasons he spent at Chelsea came from out wide or as a second striker and more than half of those came from the bench. You only have to look at his short 12 game spell on loan at Bolton (scorer of 8 goals in 12 games) to see that when used as a striker, he will score a lot of goals. Not to mention that, at all levels for England he has scored 21 goals in 36 games – so the youngster is easily capable of finding the goal.

I’m sure many would disagree but I certainly believe the signing of Daniel Sturridge would give us something we’ve only really had in Suarez since we lost Torres – a player who, if given the chances, is capable of scoring 20+ goals per season and if the price is right, we shouldn’t have any concerns about his ability.

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