The Long Goodbye: Why Daniel Sturridge will be missed at Liverpool if he leaves this month

I think I can honestly say that Daniel Sturridge is one of the most exciting players to have played in Liverpool red for the past ten years.

In the 2013/14 run he may not have been Luis Suarez, and in later seasons he may not have been Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mané and now Mohamed Salah, but Sturridge was something close behind.

Less goals than Suarez, but crucial to the opening stanza of Brendan Rodgers’ sprinting battle with Manchester City that ultimately fell away with disappointing results and a handful of bad luck.

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CARDIFF, WALES – Saturday, March 22, 2014: Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge celebrates scoring the fifth goal against Cardiff City with team-mate Luis Suarez during the Premiership match at the Cardiff City Stadium. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Not as many worldies as Coutinho from 2014 onwards, but great goals when he could find his legs, and a decent sprint speed.

The problem with Daniel Sturridge’s Liverpool career? He spent the majority of it on the physios table, unable to take the field and provide more goals, more entertainment and more of his signature celebration.

That said, the English forward will be missed at Anfield, all the more for his long goodbye.

The number 15 jersey became synonymous with break-away attacks, and funny dances at the end of them. Before Salah was breaking goalscoring records Sturridge was chasing them down.

Even in the very beginning he knew where the back of the net was – just seven minutes into his debut match against Mansfield Town he put the Reds in front and he didn’t slow down.

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MANSFIELD, ENGLAND – Sunday, January 6, 2013: Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge celebrates scoring the first goal against Mansfield Town during the FA Cup 3rd Round match at Field Mill. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

48 goals in 98 goals for Liverpool isn’t the biggest haul that the club has ever seen, nor the best, but much of that comes from the tail end of his time in Merseyside, where his battles were more with injuries and fears than with centre-halves and goalkeepers.

This is also the man that banged in 21 goals in the 2013/14 campaign, and was Liverpool’s top goalscorer in the 2015/16 season.

We may not know where Daniel Sturridge will end up, as continental clubs in La Liga and Serie A circle, but we know that he will be exciting no matter where he goes.

Perhaps his next destination is Sevilla, the team against whom he scored one of his best strikes in the red shirt – a shot from the left side of the goal that drifted in and put Liverpool 1-0 up heading into half time in what would end up being a calamitous Europa League final.

Inter Milan have made a loan offer for Daniel Sturridge that is still under consideration from Liverpool. (@GlennPrice94) https://t.co/NH5tQ5xbYP

— Anfield HQ (@AnfieldHQ) January 23, 2018

Maybe it’s an Italian club, AS Roma to replace the gap Salah has left in their strike-force, or Inter Milan.

Or maybe, just maybe, Sturridge plays for Liverpool again.

His season thus far has been 15 appearances, many of them coming late in the game, with his last game being the Spartak Moscow tie in the Champions League.

Another cruel injury, this time a blow to his thigh, has kept him from manager Jurgen Klopp’s plans, as well as his loss of break-neck speed that he was once renowned for.

Many fans suggest that Sturridge won’t make it back to the pitch for Liverpool, and perhaps they’re correct. That doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been a fantastic servant to the club, a wonder to watch when firing on all cylinders and one of the players that lit up the Kop in times where star players were headed out the door and richer clubs were streaking to the titles.

I will miss Sturridge, his dangerous game and his smiles when he’d finally find that goal he’d been hunting.

It’s definitely been a ‘long farewell’ through injury after injury, but it will be a bitter-sweet goodbye all the same.

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Source: anfieldhq.com