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.
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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.
12…..not goin for less than 20 in today’s market my friend! 35 for Carroll and sturridge is a much better player, so you shouldn’t hope to get him on the cheap
He is a striker so he’ll want to start upfront too, not on the flanks.
No. Sign world class players to deliver world class performances. This is beginning to have a de ja vu feel and I am not liking it. Remember what happened to the last fellow?
don’t be naive, we don’t have the pulling-power to sign world class players. We are unlikely to be able to lure Sturridge, let alone a better player…
People need to stop with this idiotic “premier league experience” stupidity… Suarez NO “premier league experience” …Henderson, Adam, Downing, Carroline..all EPIC garabge..with supposed “premier league experience”..The bottom line is that we keep getting linked to more British garbage that can’t even make the starting 11 of their current team so we are gonna overpay bcuz they are Brits.. it needs to stop.
Yes Greg. We need to distance ourselves from the rubbish thinking that KD brought to this club. 85 mill on British “talent” that is if i could use the word “talent” at all.
KD single handedly brought us backward a few more years with his transfer dealings alone. We do not need more of those Brendan.
Sturridge is a striker and reiterates his stance at every given opportunity, ever figured that maybe he will be pushed upfront to rival Torres for a berth at the apex of attack and that could be the reason to cover for him with someone like Moses? Malouda could also be on the way out and that is also another reason chelsea went to Wigan for Moses. If he does move (which I doubt) he would most likely be aiming for a start as a STRIKER because his issue with the Chelsea is not about anything else but being played out of position. He is also unlikely to be cheap so why not just sign someone for the £20m it’s likely to cost to lure him to Liverpool?
To be honest i doubt we would sell him for less than 15 ,But a words of warning he cannot play on either side ,he is not a team player and is a ball hog ,he actually cost us points by refusing to pass the ball to a more positioned player only to flubb the shot .
It was his selfish attitude that caused him to be dropped ,I should mention that if he does not get his own way both him and his dad will mouth off to the media .
The main reason he refuses to sign a new contract with us is he wants his wages of 65k a week doubled .
City want him back they can have him as far as im concerned ,considering Liverpool are trying to rebuild i think you would be better off avoiding this over rated smug kid .
who is moses to compare to sturredge.chelsea like spending morney .dimattio said we have a good team,sturredge some time when he speak you know his age,for sure his sturbon.but he is a agood player no dout about that,him and lukaku one will replace drogba if they are well use.moses is not a player chelsea need
to me an absolute NO
Premier league experience just like AC,SD,CHA and JH. Just stupid comment to make. Another overrated British player. If he was that good he would have played more for MC and Chelsea. The only British player we should go for is A Johnson of MC and that’s it. BR stay clear of overrated, limited British players please.
Totally overrated! Reportedly Matias Suarez is available for £15m – if so we should get him quick, he is class. We keep on getting linked with PL experienced players as if that’s all that matters. We need a couple of world class players coming in not several pretty average ones. Suarez and Ramirez for me.
I’d love to see him in a red shirt
Please stop with mathias suarez, I’m belgian, i see him every week
He’s not good enough for us and i doesn’t suit anfield style
Really over over over rated players
And Anderlecht has already said that they won’t let him go for less than 20M€ : too much for a players who plays in a minor competition
One mistake with jovanovic not two please
Michael58 hit the nail on the head, Sturridge refuses to be a team player. He has bags of talent but fails to realise that it could be better utilised by assisting the team to get 40 goals instead of trying a pointless shot from way too far or from crazy angles all in the hope he’ll get one more goal to his name, it’s the same reason he wasn’t picked for the England squad. If LFC were really willing to pay £15mill or so then CFC would bite their hand off for it, it’s a shame that he thinks so selfishly and it really ruined his reputation amongst the Chelsea fans.