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:&quot;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.&quot;#1 Quality backup strikerWest Ham United v Liverpool - Premier LeagueAny 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.

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

#2 Brings experience to the squad