- Daniel Sturridge could be out for up to five months with a hip injury
- The Liverpool forward underwent surgery in New York on Tuesday
- Sturridge has endured an injury-ravaged second full season at Anfield
- He has missed 53 games because of injury since moving to Merseyside
- Liverpool have struggled to replace Sturridge and old boy Luis Suarez
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has been ruled out for five months following hip surgery in the latest instalment of the injury woe that has plagued his second full season at Anfield.
Rewind 12 months and Sturridge – long touted as having a big future in English football – finally seemed to have found his feet, scoring 35 goals in an excellent 18 months since signing from Chelsea.
But thigh, calf and hip injuries have seen him miss almost two-thirds of the current campaign and without that firepower up top Raheem Sterling and Steven Gerrard are the club’s top scorers on just 11 each. Meanwhile, Sturridge's former striker partner Luis Suarez has 24 goals in Spain even after missing a chunk of the season through suspension.
Daniel Sturridge has missed 53 games for Liverpool since joining the club from Chelsea in January, 2013
Liverpool striker Sturridge has already missed 40 games this season because of recurring injury problems
Sturridge could be out for up to five months after undergoing hip surgey in New York on Tuesday
The 25-year-old has only managed four Premier League goals this season after netting 21 last term
Now, there are questions about whether Sturridge can be relied upon as a top-class centre forward and he is unlikely to return until September or October when he could be left to play catch-up with the rest of the Barclays Premier League.
Luck hasn’t always come the way of Sturridge during his career before he arrived on Merseyside: the 25-year-old struggled to find a regular first-team space after breaking through as Manchester City’s finest youth product for years and he was a victim of the chopping and changing of managers at Chelsea.
So when the faintest of touches gave him his first goal of the season against Southampton – the winner - on the opening weekend of the season, it felt like a significant moment. Here was a striker who had been through difficult spells but was now the leading man for club and country.
After the game, with Anfield buzzing with title anticipation again, Sturridge spoke of how the goalscoring pressure was now on his shoulders after Suarez’s £75million move to Barcelona.
‘There’s pressure for me to get the goals now,’ he said. ‘With the players the manager has brought in, no disrespect to Luis, we move on from that now, we’ve shown today we can win games and score goals.’
But almost nine months on, only four more goals have followed for Sturridge. Liverpool have just 49 league goals compared to 96 at the same point last season (Sturridge had 23) and their star striker has been sorely missed.
Even when the Liverpool No 15 has been fit, the spark of last season has not been there. A yard of pace lost, a split-second delay on his shooting, a lack of confidence. Sturridge has lost his edge and that means Liverpool no longer have theirs.
Look back to the FA Cup trip to Blackburn where Sturridge was supposed to be nearing full fitness, having played a part in all of Liverpool’s previous 14 games (his longest run this season). Instead, he was lethargic and could not stretch the opposition back four in the way that he should.
There is an underlying problem – and Liverpool believe Sturridge’s surgery in Boston has found it. Something is clearly continuing to niggle at him and is potentially contributing towards his injuries but the Merseyside club must now wait until September to discover whether that has been eradicated.
In his absence, Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini have been unable to step up when asked to and now Sturridge’s persistent problems mean Brendan Rodgers will have to find another elite level striker to bring in this summer.
But that sort of quality doesn’t often come cheap, or to clubs outside of the Champions League. A solution to Sturridge’s problems must be found and luck cannot be used as an excuse any longer.
In the period since his arrival at Anfield, the England forward is still the Premier League’s third-top goalscorer despite his problems this season. He has the class to transform his club’s fortunes – and boy, do they need it.
Liverpool believe they have found the common factor and will hope it is sorted by the time he returns in September or October. No matter who they bring in this summer, the fate of both the Reds and under-pressure boss Rodgers depend upon it.
If that issue is sorted, they will have a man who ranks among the Premier League’s finest finishers back at his best. And that could be the difference between the failures of this season and the potential success of next.
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