Sturridge: This Has Always Been My Home

I think we’re all ready to once again have our hearts (inevitably, and oh so painfully) broken by Daniel Sturridge. The good news is, he’s almost definitely going to be right there with us in our pain and misery when he inevitably gets injured and this revival we’re seeing ends. The striker scored yet another goal in Sunday’s 4-1 win against Manchester United, but is trying to play down his excitement about his form as much as we are.

“I just wanted to work hard through the summer,” Sturridge told the club’s official website after the game. ”[You come] back, work hard in pre-season, and try and help your team be successful — and that’s what it’s all about.”

”I ain’t getting too excited,” he added, just in case he jinxed anything. “I’ve got a positive mentality and I’m just focusing on improving because you can never stop improving. I feel good, I won’t deny it, but I understand it’s a long season too, there’s a lot of games, and I’m excited.”

”I’m looking forward to the future [and] what I can do and help the team.”

Sturridge has suffered injury after injury recently and spent the latter part of the previous season on loan at West Brom in an effort to see more game time. Unfortunately, he picked up a hamstring injury soon after the loan began and spent the rest of his season recovering.

To go from yet another injury to captaining his team in the second half of Sunday’s game meant a lot to Sturridge, and he was eager to talk about just how much Liverpool means to him.

“I said this the last time I was captain [against Blackburn], it’s a great feeling,” Sturridge said. ”I’ve been here a long time to be fair, and it’s the longest I’ve stayed at one team in my professional career since Manchester City in the youth days.

“As a professional, this is the longest I’ve ever been with a team and this has always been my home.

”When you step outside sometimes it’s good to step away and come back with a fresh mentality and a new mindset and that’s the reason for me going away.

”I never wanted to leave but I knew I had to, to try and get more minutes but now I’m back here to give it my all, to help us win something – that’s everybody’s aim, we want to win a trophy and that’s what we are focused on.”

Here’s hoping we get to see him cut through other teams’ defenses for a while to come.