Former Manchester City forward Daniel Sturridge has revealed that he is unsure whether he will be at Stamford Bridge next season despite having his best season at Chelsea an establishing himself as a first team squad member.
Sturridge scored 13 goals for the west London club despite playing on the right-wing for most of the season and ended the campaign with a FA Cup and Champions League winners medal. He also earned his first cap for England when the Three Lions played against Sweden in November.
But there has still been speculation surrounding the forward’s future at Chelsea as Sturridge’s wish is to play as a centre forward and even though Didier Drogba is leaving the club, he’s still behind Fernando Torres in the pecking order and I would be surprised if Chelsea did not sign another forward in the summer.
Reports in the London Evening Standard say that although the player isn’t actively seeking a move away from the club, he isn’t sure if he’ll be around next season and the Standard believe that Chelsea will listen to offers for him.
Sturridge said:
“You never know what is going to happen in the future.
“Everyone is going to evaluate the season that they’ve had, the club will certainly evaluate players and I will certainly evaluate my situation.
“I have achieved so much with Chelsea this season and I have a great feeling inside. I hope to be able to achieve more things next season.”
He added:
“Regardless of what happens it has been a great season and I hope it continues for another year and we can win some more trophies.
“I have played my part this season, I probably played in half the Champions League games. It is a season that will live in the memory of everyone and we thoroughly deserved everything we got.
“Obviously I see myself as a centre-forward and hopefully next season I will be able to achieve that feat because I don’t see myself playing on the wing.
“I’m delighted with my first full season at Chelsea. The first two years were very difficult for me but this season I have had to play out of position and it has been a real learning curve for me to play as a winger.
“I hope things work out well for me and Chelsea will be working hard to make sure that we emulate what we did this season and that would be great.”
Sturridge seemed a shoo-in for a place in the Euro 2012 England squad during the first half of the season and was even touted as a potential replacement for Wayne Rooney, who is suspended for the first two games of the competition. However, Sturridge has missed out and does not have a place in Roy Hodgson’s provisional but is on the standby list, probably because of his poor performance in the second half of the competition (wouldn’t explain why Downing made the squad, it’s the biggest mystery of the year so far).
I’m not entirely sure why the young forward slacked off during the second half of the season, but his selfish play irritated everybody and it looked to some as it he wasn’t interested merely because he did not get to play in his favoured position. What does the future hold for Sturridge
