Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge not thinking about future as Anfield exit nears

Sturridge expected to bring six-year Anfield stay to end next month

Mark Critchley
Northern Football Correspondent
Monday 03 June 2019 07:58 EDT
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Liverpool victory bus greets thousands of fans in city centre

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Daniel Sturridge insisted that he is not thinking about next season as he prepares to bring an end to his six-year stay with Liverpool.

Sturridge was an unused substitute on Saturday night as Jurgen Klopp’s side beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Champions League final in Madrid.

The 29-year-old striker’s contract expires next month, with no indication from either the club or player that the terms will be renewed.

Sturridge will therefore leave Liverpool, having scored 67 goals in 160 appearances since joining under Brendan Rodgers in 2013.

“I don’t even want to talk about all that stuff,” he said on Saturday, when questioned on his future. “I feel like it has been an incredible time and I am not going to talk about next season or anything.

“What’s important now is celebrating something so momentous, something we were striving for, working for for a long time. To finally win something is amazing.”

Sturridge scored the first goal of Liverpool’s successful Champions League campaign, notching in the opening 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield.

The popular striker made seven European appearances in all, but five of those came in the group stage and the remaining two were short-lived and from the substitutes’ bench.

Even so, Sturridge said he was proud to have contributed to winning the club’s sixth European Cup and finally claim the first winners’ medal of his Anfield career.

“Oh of course, yes [I am proud]. I contributed and even the players who haven’t played a minute,” he said. “There are guys who have been on the bench and haven’t played a single minute, but they have been a part of it.

“From training, to acting like the opposition that we have been playing against, to doing a job, to sacrificing themselves and the way that they play just to train to do a job on the training field to help them prepare themselves the best way that they can. It’s amazing.”

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