Daniel Sturridge is set to be on the lookout for a new club again this summer with Perth Glory confirming they are unlikely to renew his contract.
The former England international has yet to start a match or score a goal for the Australian club, for whom he signed in October.
Perth Glory chairman and owner Tony Sage described the move as ‘one of the biggest signings’ in A-League history but it has not worked out.
The club’s chief executive Tony Pignata has now confirmed that Sturridge – who has not played since late February when he sustained an injury against Macarthur after just 15 minutes on the pitch – is unlikely to be offered a deal beyond the end of the current campaign.
“It has been disappointing. We had high hopes when we signed Daniel. It hasn’t worked,” Pignata told SEN’s The Global Game.
“From a marketing point of view, the first game, we had 18,000 on the back of him arriving and the hype. Then unfortunately he got injured, and he hasn’t been seen since. He’s training and there’s potential that he could play some minutes this week and then finish off the season. Next year? Look, I doubt that we’ll offer him another contract.”
Perth boss Richard Garcia previously lamented : “I keep trying to bring him back and he keeps breaking down. We’ve got to get to grips with it and find out where he’s at. He keeps getting to certain stages, we’ll have to wait and see how this one turns up. Hopefully it’s nothing.”
The English striker came through the ranks at Manchester City before he was snapped up by Chelsea in 2009. He played a squad role at Stamford Bridge until Andre Villas-Boas arrived in the summer of 2011 and made him a regular. Sturridge scored 13 goals that season as Chelsea won the Champions League.
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Six months later he'd attracted the interest of then-Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers and made a move to Anfield. There he would form his deadly partnership with Luis Suarez as the Reds made a charge for the title in the 2013/14 season.
His 24-goal haul that year remains a career high but the striker has struggled to match those levels since. In the summer of 2014 he was part of the England squad that headed to Brazil for the World Cup and scored in the opening game against Italy.
Ever since then, injuries have been an issue which has limited his appearances. Jurgen Klopp's arrival also saw Sturridge fall down the pecking order and he was loaned out to West Brom back in January 2018, only for injury to strike again. The striker grabbed a sensational last-minute equaliser for Liverpool at Chelsea back in September 2018, which was a timely reminder of his quality.
He was released by Liverpool in 2019 and headed for Turkey, although his stint was brief. He scored seven goals in 16 appearances for Trabzonspor, before his contract was mutually terminated on the same day he received a four-month worldwide ban for breaching betting rules.
