Daniel Sturridge supposedly wants to stay at Liverpool, and says that dropping deeper is something that would appeal to him.
Speaking to the club’s official website, the 28-year-old, who was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion for the second half of last season, has talked up the idea of operating from deeper to give manager Jurgen Klopp more options.
The former Chelsea and Manchester City striker has been on the periphery at Anfield for the past two seasons, with Brazilian Roberto Firmino earmarking himself as Klopp’s go-to centre forward.
Firmino has excelled in the role and last season had his best campaign since joining the club in 2015, scoring 27 times across all competitions.
Sturridge has, as a result, been frequently linked with a move away from Anfield after five-and-a-half years at the club, but he has actually looked very sharp in pre-season so far, and the player apparently wants to stay as reported by the Daily Mirror.
Speaking to the Liverpool’s official website, Sturridge discussed his openness to the idea of playing from deeper to give Klopp something to think about.
He said: “Playing on the shoulder is what I like to do but it’s also important to come and get involved and get in and around the opposition’s No.6. It’s adding more strings to my bow and giving the manager more options if he needs to play me deeper.
“But wherever I play, it doesn’t matter – it’s just important to get the minutes.
“It’s an evolution that has occurred naturally rather than on instruction. It has just happened. I think I’ve always been capable of doing that but I’ve always been on the shoulder, so I haven’t done it as often as I am now.”
It is an interesting notion. Sturridge’s game has always primarily revolved around springing the offside trap and using his pace to latch on to through balls.
Although no slouch, Sturridge certainly no longer possesses that same searing pace so it could be interesting to see him being more technical from a central attacking midfield role.
The Reds’ struggles to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyon this summer have been well documented, but perhaps Sturridge could be the alternative option for the role the club did not even realise they had.
The 26-capped England international, who missed out on this summer’s World Cup due to poor form, is an effective dribbler and could break the lines that way, but would arguably need to improve his through ball abilities.
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