Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge: I was never given an opportunity at Chelsea

Daniel Sturridge believes he was never given an opportunity to shine at Chelsea.

The England international has scored a staggering 18 goals in 24 Premier League games for the Reds following a £12m switch to Merseyside from the Blues last January.

Sturridge, who spent four seasons at Stamford Bridge, failed to secure a regular first-team amid competition from Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres at the west London side.

And the 24-year-old feels he has been able to shrug off his “selfish” reputation at Liverpool, whilst allowing the Reds supporters to see his true personality.

“The selfish thing — people at Chelsea have an opinion – and everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but for me I was never given an opportunity there,” Sturridge said in an interview with ESPNFC.

“I’m only on for five minutes, I’ve got to try and do something. I’ve got to try and shoot.

“People have an opinion of me, [saying] ‘Daniel Sturridge this, Daniel Sturridge,’ and that and I’m selfish and this and that, but for me I’ve always tried to help the team win games and here at Liverpool I always try and sit on my opponents and I’m not a selfish player.

“I’m not a selfish person. People who meet me here and management understand exactly where I’m coming from.”

He added: “I didn’t really get a chance to show people who I was as a person because once you have an opinion and I’m not doing interviews and I’m not playing and I’m on the bench — it’s almost like you can’t do anything to change anyone’s opinion.”