Liverpool signed then 23-year-old Daniel Sturridge in the January of 2013 for a fee rumoured to be around £13.5m.
The striker could never quite establish himself with The Blues, and needed a way out to get his career going. He had made just one start for the club in the Premier League leading up to his January departure, which clearly was not good enough for him.
He was an England international, but was still in no way a regular for the national team, and that was surely his aspiration. However, a lot of fans did not take kindly to this transfer on Twitter. Liverpool fans saw their club as above Sturridge, believing they were declining by signing him.
This is what the fans had to say:
@LFC delighted? Just how far have we fallen…
— Jason (@wellsie82) January 2, 2013
@LFC how the mighty have fallen.
— D-BB-B (@davidjohn73_) 2 January 2013
@LFC lol he’ll go well with Jordan Henderson & Jonjo Shelvey pub team players
— Steven (@stevie__cole) 2 January 2013
@LFC absolute rip off for really what’s an unproven player
— Daniel Truran (@Deeayteee) 2 January 2013
@LFC joke of a signing, Yet again an unproven/average player at LFC, Club is becoming a joke, seems 2 me we r settling 2 b a mid-table team!
— Daniel Pugh (@Dan_Pugh88) 2 January 2013
@LFC still not learned our lesson in the transfer market …. Paying over the odds for average English talent !!!! Waste of money
— Dean Watkins (@Buncey10) 2 January 2013
@LFC lol jokers! What a waste of ££££
— marc leighton (@MarcyMarc81) 2 January 2013
@LFC sad days
— Nilesh (@nileshm93) 2 January 2013
With 50 goals in 104 appearances, very few would argue that this was not a good signing for Liverpool. Sturridge has experienced highs as well as lows since signing for Chelsea, however.
He was a member of the 2013/14 Liverpool team that came ever so close to winning the Premier League, where he formed a formidable partnership with Luis Suárez. On the other hand, his career has been ravaged by injury, which has seen him slowly lose his place in the starting XI as new arrivals have come in.
He was loaned out last season to West Brom to try and get his career back on the right tracks but was injured for the majority of that spell.
At 29, he may not find another big club that wants to sign him, and may want to fight for his place at Liverpool. He has started this season very well compared to recent campaigns, but still seems behind Roberto Firmino in Jürgen Klopp’s plans.
Nonetheless, from where Sturridge was in his career when he signed for The Reds, it was a very good signing from the club.
