3 Reasons why Sturridge is going to be an extremely important player for Liverpool this season

Since early on in his career, Daniel Sturridge has been one of those players with 'great potential'. At the age of 13, he signed for Manchester City's youth team.Year-after-year, he proved himself to be an out-and-out goalscorer at youth level and hence, in the 2006-2007 season he earned a call-up to the first team. He was just 18 years old then.

The 2008-2009 season proved to be his breakthrough season and it culminated with him winning Manchester City's 'Young Player of the Year Award'.

He moved to Chelsea in 2009 and enjoyed four fruitful seasons at the club. In his last season at the club, his injury demons, which from then on have been a constant in his life, sprang upon him for the first time. Not letting that stand in his way, he joined Liverpool that January for a transfer fee of about £12 million.

And after one great season at Liverpool, his downfall began. In the 2013-2014 season in which he scored 20 goals, he played 26 games in the Premier League. From then on, injuries have plagued his career.

In the 2014-2015 season, he played a total of nine competitive games all season long. Next season, he played 17 games in total. The 2016-2017 campaign was perhaps the most disappointing for him as he could rack up only 769 minutes of game-time in the entire season.

By then, a lot had changed at Liverpool. New manager, new players and suddenly Sturridge was no longer the man that he had once been at the club. At the back end of last season, he was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion. Guess what happened next? Sturridge got injured again.

If Sturridge can keep himself fit for an entire season, there's no reason why he can't regain his first-team spot at Liverpool. After deciding to stay at Liverpool and fight for his place, Sturridge has impressed Klopp with his pre-season form.

Klopp's views on Sturrdige hint that he too believes that Sturridge has an important role to play at Liverpool this season.

When questioned about Sturridge after the pre-season game against Manchester United, this is what Klopp had to say:

"The most important thing, we always said, is that Daniel stays fit. Usually we could say 60 minutes for him today would have been OK, but he was so good in the last few weeks for us – so no risk. He was obviously fresh when he came in and enjoyed the game. Hopefully [he will be] very important, to be honest."

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#1 Quality backup striker

West Ham United v Liverpool - Premier League

Any team that's fighting to win trophies needs at least two quality players for each position. Sturridge is a quality striker, there's no doubting that.

Although Sturridge may not be particularly happy with his role as a backup striker, for the moment at least he will have to be content with it. Firmino had a great season last-year and dislodging him from the first-team is not going to be easy.

Liverpool should be delighted to have Sturridge as a backup. Last season, in the absence of Firmino, Dominic Solanke was given the responsibility of playing up-front. Disappointingly, he was unable to play the part well.

A fit Sturridge is like a new signing altogether for Liverpool. If Firmino was to get injured during the season, it's somewhat comforting to know that there's an able replacement in the likes of Sturridge who can fill in and keep the goals flowing.

Even without Firmino's hypothetical injury, Sturridge has a huge role to play in the squad. Liverpool will be competing in four different competitions this year. The pressure is on Klopp to win some silveware this year.

Therefore, Klopp will have to be very careful when he's picking out his team for the 'lesser-important' games. That's when it's comforting to know that you have a proven goalscorer like Sturridge as your backup striker.

#2 Brings experience to the squad

Sturridge is an experienced campaigner now

Sturridge is 28-years old now. If you were to look at the current Liverpool squad, he can be called a 'veteran' amongst their youthful ranks.

And that's a good thing. He's played 279 matches in the Premier League. That is some solid experience for you. He understands English football like other veterans of the game.

Experience is difficult to buy and Klopp understands this. He values what Sturridge brings to the squad and has set-up a personalized fitness regime for him to ensure that he can keep himself fit.

Sturridge's presence gives Klopp the luxury to select the 'right striker for the right game'. The value of having an experienced campaigner within the ranks is deeply felt by the younger players and the manager.

This season is going to be his sixth season with the club. He knows the Liverpool way and can help the newcomers understand the club's philosophy & style of play to quicken up the induction process.

#3 Adds important goals

Sturridge offers a constant gaal-scoring threat

Sturridge's importance to the team is really felt in the goals department. He has always had valuable goals to offer, in his game. His goals to game ratio at Liverpool is 0.47, which means he scores at least one goal every two games, a decent statistic.

Liverpool had a great season last year. There's no denying that. But an alarming statistic that puts the season into perspective is the contribution of the front-three: Mane, Salah & Firmino. The trio went on to score more than a 100 goals last season.

While that's a good statistic but it makes one worry about the club's over-dependence on these three players. Even last year, in the absence of even one of these players, the goals dried up.

Klopp did not have an alternative goal source last season. But this season things are looking different. Sturridge is one striker who's not shy in front of goal.

His presence and form will definitely be important for this team to have a trophy-winning season.