EXCLUSIVE: DANIEL STURRIDGEON HIS SIX YEAR JOURNEY TO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

You wouldn’t know it to look at his form right now, but it’s been a long road to the top for Daniel Sturridge.

It is more than six and a half years since he made his senior debut for Manchester City, yet within weeks he had suffered a serious hip injury that would keep him out of the game for almost a year.

Upon his return, the then 18-year-old failed to establish himself at the Etihad; a subsequent move to Chelsea saw him frustrated more than fulfilled, leaving only a short loan spell at Bolton to suggest the qualities many in the game knew he possessed.

The contrast with the ten months that have followed his arrival at Liverpool, then, is an obvious one. The 24-year-old has netted 21 goals in 27 games since moving to Anfield, including eight in nine Premier League appearances this season – goals that have helped fire his new club to third in the league ahead of their visit to table-topping Arsenal tomorrow.

If paying £12m for Sturridge represented something of a gamble for manager Brendan Rodgers, then it is one that has most definitely paid off. But, we ask the England striker, why have things gone so right?

 “I’m just playing in the position that I enjoy playing in,” he tells us. “When I went to Bolton, I was able to show what I can do because I was playing as a centre-forward.

“At Chelsea, I never got the chance to do that, and I’ve got that opportunity here. My faith in God, my self-belief and the hard work I put in on the training field; they’ve all helped me become the player I am now, but I’d say the biggest difference is I’m back to my natural thoughts and I’ve got no clouded vision when I’m on the field. That’s probably the main thing that has changed.”

Sturridge is far from alone in being a forward who has been asked to play in different positions. England team-mates Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck have both found themselves required to play out of position for Manchester United in recent times; with that in mind, does Sturridge still see himself as an out-and-out striker?

“Yeah, definitely, I always have,” he confirms. “And that’s what Brendan Rodgers has given me the opportunity to show. If you ask Rooney or Welbeck, they would say the same. None of us see ourselves as wingers or midfielders. We do a job for the team out there, of course – but it changes your game when you play out of position. Sometimes it hinders your performance.”

IN A GOOD PLACE
Working with Rodgers has clearly had a positive impact on Sturridge’s game – as has his time spent with respected sports psychologist Steve Peters, who has been brought in to help the Liverpool squad with the mental side of their game. The result, after six years out of the limelight, is a player now thriving in it.

“It’s the same as when I wasn’t in it, to be honest,” says Sturridge, with a smile. “And I’m just loving it. You get plaudits here and there, but I’m not really bothered about them. I’m more worried about the team, and us winning games and challenging for the trophies and the title. I love the club, love the city, everything’s going great. Everyone’s been so welcoming to me, the fans have been amazing, so I can’t say one bad thing about Liverpool.

“It’s great to be around the fans, and I always interact with them when I see them in the street – take photos with them, and all that type of stuff. It’s just great to have people who appreciate you as a person, not just as a footballer – and then I look at the size of the club, its history and the fans all around the world. It’s amazing to be a part of it.”

We’re talking to Sturridge at a hotel in his adopted hometown, as he helps promote the new Call of Duty game. A smile is never far from his face as we talk life both on and off the field – the sense, we suggest, is that we are chatting with a man who is quite simply enjoying his football. “That’s exactly it,” he agrees. “I’m just a football fan, and was a big one when I was younger. My dad was into his football, my brother played, my two uncles played at professional level.

“I was surrounded by the game, and always enjoyed watching my family play, or staying up to watch Match of the Day. Now, as a football fan,

I love my job. For me, it’s not about the money, it’s about being able to live my dream.”

It’s impossible not to believe him. Sturridge is as enthusiastic on the subject of other footballers – and other goals – as he is on himself. We take him back to the previous weekend, when debate raged as to which goal had been the better: Pajtim Kasami’s wonder strike for Fulham at Crystal Palace, or Jack Wilshere’s immaculately crafted team goal for Arsenal against Norwich.

“Oh, that’s tough, but I think a team goal is more enjoyable,” he says, offering a player’s insight. “It’s a different feeling, but when you’re together as a team and you score a goal like that, the celebration of everybody coming together because everyone has felt a part of it is different to doing your solo thing and going off celebrating on your own. When everyone is a part of it, you feel the vibrations and everyone’s got the same feeling inside – so yeah, I prefer a team goal. That one.”

LAST WEEK DIDN'T HAPPEN
Team or individual, Sturridge is scoring goals for fun this season. The only surprise in last Saturday’s 4-1 demolition job at home to  West Brom was that he didn’t pop up with one until after Luis Suarez had completed a brilliant hat-trick. Is it a case, we ask him, of feeling like he’s going to score whenever he gets the ball?

“No, it’s not like that,” he’s quick to point out. I try to have the same mentality every time I go out, whether scoring goals or not. If you get yourself in that mode where goals are what’s going to make you tick, then ten matches without one and your game goes out the window. It’s doomsday. Whether I score or not, I go in as if last week didn’t happen.

“Steve Peters has played a big part in that. He’s a really nice guy, and not just about the psychological side of things. He’s not one of those people who likes to tweak and push buttons and see what happens. He’s helped me to understand that you can’t always be great, that you will have bad times. I won’t let all his secrets out, but he’s definitely done a lot of things that have helped me get a clearer mind and enjoy my football more.”

Peters has done much to help Sturridge get his mind in the right place, but he always comes back to the man who took the gamble in the first place. Was working with Brendan Rodgers a part of the reason behind Sturridge’s move to Anfield?

“It was, yeah, because I knew about him from when I was at Chelsea, and the players who were there spoke so highly of him,” he confirms. “He had tried to get me on loan when he was at Swansea, so I knew he rated me. He knows how I work.

“He knows what I need. I needed to be believed in, to play as a centre-forward at a club. I didn’t get that at Chelsea, and Brendan gave me the opportunity to do that here. We work well together, and it’s great to be part of his philosophy. He gets the most out of his players, and makes us want to win for him. He’s just very good at man-management as well as the tactics and team stuff.”

What of the one-liners and comedy moments Rodgers became so famed for in the wake of the behind-the-scenes documentary Being Liverpool? He laughs. “I’ve never heard him say a line that’s made me struggle to keep a straight face, although I’ve heard others say different,” he says. “I’d say he’s got a few jokes, and he’s good with thebanter. He’s a funny guy.”

GRAND UNION
As much as Sturridge enjoys his work off the pitch with Rodgers, it is his work on the pitch with Luis Suarez that people are talking about. The new SAS have scored 14 goals in a combined 13 Premier League appearances so far this season, leading many respected pundits to declare them the most dangerous strike force in the country.

“We just go out there and express ourselves, and that’s important,” he says of their blossoming partnership. “We both work for the team and we both drop off to get the ball, or make a run in behind and help each other out.

“It’s not about me doing this or him having to do that. We just play, and whatever positions we pick up, we work off each other. Philippe [Coutinho] offers something a bit different as well; hopefully we’ll cause a lot of problems for opposition defenders once he’s back fit and firing.”

Very possibly, but back to everyone’s favourite Uruguayan. We all know of Suarez’s previous, but what is he really like?

“He’s a cool guy, man,” Sturridge says with no little conviction. “His attitude is to win, and I think he does things people don’t agree with because he wants to win so bad. I can see where he comes from – maybe I’m not as extreme in terms of the things that he does, but some people have a

temper they struggle to control. Seriously, his character off the field is totally different, and I really enjoy playing with him.”

That word again: enjoy. Sturridge is a man enjoying life, and no wonder. Liverpool are flying, he’s scoring pretty much every week, and of course England have just secured their place at next year’s World Cup. If scoring in front of the Kop is a special feeling, what was it like to book a place in Brazil?

“Yeah, it was brilliant getting over that hurdle,” Sturridge explains. “It was really emotional; we all celebrated together, and it was an incredible feeling to have. To be in such great company was amazing.

“I look forward to the future England games and hopefully getting on the plane, but I’m not thinking that far ahead at the moment. I’ve got to worry about the Liverpool games first, but I’ll be working hard to make sure I’m on that plane.”

If he does board the plane to Brazil, he will be doing so alongside Roy Hodgson. Curiously, the England boss hasn’t had the smoothest of rides since his team guaranteed its place at the World Cup, but his new first-choice number nine is not short on praise for his international manager.

“I enjoy working with him,” he says. “It’s great to have a manager who believes in me like Brendan does, and who gives me the opportunities. He speaks to me one on one, and lets me know what he thinks I need to improve on – which I like, because I think hearing it from a different manager in a different environment helps to broaden your game.

“He’s not watching me all the time, but when he does watch me he sees things that I may need to tweak. I’ve improved from working with him, so I appreciate the relationship I have with him. It’s similar to Brendan. If you have a good relationship, it makes things easier.”

So England are in Brazil, and on a personal level the goals are flying in. That just leaves the small matter of Liverpool, and we remind Sturridge that a victory at the Emirates this weekend could just see them at the top of the Premier League after ten games.

He smiles: “It’s top four, isn’t it? That’s got to be the aim. We haven’t finished in the top four for a few years now, so we’ve got to aim for that. Anything else is a bonus.”

Whatever happens in the next seven months and beyond, you get the feeling that Sturridge has turned a very large corner in 2013 – a year in which he has perhaps rediscovered an infectious love for the game.

“Football’s about enjoyment, not about the stresses,” he says. “You don’t have stresses when you’re a kid, so why should that change when you become an adult? That’s the mentality I try to have – to enjoy myself when I’m on the field.”

It’s been a long journey to get this far, but you get the distinct impression that Daniel Sturridge has only just begun.