Daniel Sturridge’s Liverpool career had looked set to be drawing to it’s conclusion towards the end of last season. It wasn’t the one many had envisaged after his blistering start to life on Merseyside back in 2013. He scored on his debut in the FA Cup against Mansfield Town and followed that up with a striker against Manchester United.
He became the first Liverpool player to score three goals in their first three matches for the club after netting in the 5-0 win over Norwich. Taking over the mantle of Liverpool’s main man in the absence of the suspended Luis Suarez, Sturridge finished the season with 10 goals in 14 Premier League matches.
He looked the real deal and, at £12million, he looked set to be one of the bargains of the Premier League era.
The 2013/14 season was a memorable one for Liverpool fans. They finished as runners-up to Manchester City and it’s the closest they’ve come to a league title for over a quarter of a century. Suarez, with his 31 strikes, was rightly lauded for his contribution to the campaign. But it was Sturridge who got the season underway in fine fashion with three winning goals in the opening three matches. The Birmingham-born forward was the match winner and game changer, he finished the season with 21 goals in 29 appearances.
He looked set to join the likes of Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez as one of the all-time goalscoring greats for the club. But injuries robbed him of this opportunity.
In the following three seasons he scored just the 15 Premier League goals, yet has still maintained his goal every other game record. For further context, however, he’s featured in 46 matches with just 24 of them being starts.
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During the 2016/17 season Liverpool toiled in the absence of Sadio Mane. The AFCON deprived Liverpool of the former Southampton speedster throughout the month of January and Liverpool, with Sturridge in attack, looked blunt.
The scapegoat was Sturridge, despite him not being at fault for Liverpool’s poor attempt of piecing together a potent attack without Mane.
It appeared as though the relationship had ran it’s course. The Reds needed a different style of striker and Sturridge needed to be played in a system to get the best out of him. But then, in the final couple of matches of the campaign, Sturridge, backed by Klopp, showed his class as Liverpool secured a top four spot.
It was then revealed that he would be staying at Anfield because it would cost too much to replace a player of his ability. It was clear the former Borussia Dortmund manager rated Sturridge, he just couldn’t rely on him.
But then, after an injury-free summer, Klopp talked about how the striker had never looked sharper and how he was in the best shape of his Liverpool career.
“Good, very good. Daniel has been a part of full pre-season so far,” Klopp said.
“It's been quite intense but he's been part of pretty much every session.
“It's the best condition I've seen from him since I'm here. I came in October 2015 and Daniel, I think, was probably injured.”
The 27-year-old has looked sharp throughout pre-season, with team-mate Adam Lallana hailing him as a 'new signing'.
Then, after coming off the bench against Bayern Munich in the Audi Cup, you got to see why Klopp and Lallana had been so willing to praise the striker.
He raced onto a superb pass from Ben Woodburn before calmly lifting the ball over the advancing ‘keeper to give the Reds a 3-0 lead. This was vintage Sturridge. And then, like clockwork, the grimace appeared on his face and he hobbled off.
It was Sturridge’s Liverpool career summed up in five seconds. Capable of the sublime with the potential to be one of Europe’s best strikers but unable to because his body let him down.
Afterwards the England forward seemed in good spirits despite the apparent injury.
“It just a little bit of tension kicking off,” the striker explained. “I've done a lot of running and a lot of work. We train on the morning of the games. I think it's just a bit of fatigue to be honest. I'll be okay.
“I'm feeling great, I've put in a lot of work, I trained a lot in the summer in LA. I haven't missed many sessions here, they're looking after me, we have done triple sessions and things like that.
“I've trained nearly every session. I'm feeling the best I've felt for a little while and I'm looking forward to the season and hopefully we can have some success.”
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While Sturridge’s injury is no doubt a setback it doesn’t change anything. He’s still had a full pre-season under Klopp. He’s still got a base level of fitness now that he’s not had for quite some time and the class is still there for all to see.
He could be a weapon for Liverpool next season. Their wild card, trump card and ace in the pack all rolled into one. The difference maker because, let’s face it, not many teams are able to bring a player of Sturridge’s quality off the bench. He might not bag 20-goals next season but it would be foolish to discredit him.
