Sturridge Looking To Become A First Team Regular At Chelsea
Daniel Sturridge, who moved to Chelsea last season from Manchester City, has said that he plans on becoming a regular in the first team, after impressing in the pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace. Sturridge got his first taste of silverware last season as Chelsea lifted the Premier League trophy as well as the F.A Cup in a historical double, in stark contrast from his former club Manchester City, who despite their vast amount of spending in the transfer market, finished trophy less and couldn’t even qualify for the UEFA Champions League, something which justified his move to the West London club.
The 20 Year old has explained how training with players of the quality present at Chelsea, has improved him as a player despite not getting as many appearances in the league as he would have liked.
Sturridge had the honour of playing with one of the best strikers in world football in Didier Drogba, who scored 29 goals in the Premier League last season. Sturridge scored 5 goals in 18 appearances last season, four of which came in the F.A Cup, where he scored in three consecutive rounds.
His goals in the F.A Cup meant that he finished as Chelsea’s top scorer in that competition, a real honour in his first ever season at the club. His only league goal during the season came in a 7-0 win for Chelsea against Stoke City on 25th April, 2010.
Due to a number of players returning late from holidays after their tiring involvement in the World Cup in South Africa, Daniel Sturridge and other young stars such as Gael Kakuta, Nemanja Matic, Fabio Borini, Jeffrey Bruma and Patrick van Aanholt have had the opportunity to impress the manager Carlo Ancelotti in training and in pre-season friendlies.
The Italian manager stated before the start of the season that this year a number of young players would be given a more prominent role in the first team squad, instead of bringing new players from outside the club.
With the departures of a number of high profile players such as Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Juliano Belleti, new spaces within the first team squad have opened up and this gives an opportunity to young players such as Sturridge to push themselves in the running for a place in the starting line-up on a regular basis.
While Sturridge's goal is to gain a place in the team, he has not failed to realize that such an endeavour requires a lot of patience from his side because of the number of world class players already present in the Chelsea squad.
Up front Chelsea possess not just Didier Drogba but Nicholas Anelka and Solomon Kalou as well. And with the possible addition of Neymar to the Chelsea ranks, the competition for places on the team is going to be quite intense. In order to maintain a position amongst such players, a higher level of performance has to be maintained on a continuous basis, so that the manager has no choice but to consider putting them in the line up every single time he’s deciding the team sheet.
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