Sturridge: Let's stay in love forever
Daniel Sturridge has expressed his love for Liverpool and hopes that the budding relationship between himself and the club can last for a very long time.
The 23-year-old arrived at Anfield at the beginning of January from Chelsea and instantly repaid the faith shown in him by finding the target in each of his first three games for the Reds.
Sturridge has also formed an exciting partnership with top scorer Luis Suarez, who has often been used in a deeper or wider position behind the new boy by Brendan Rodgers.
It's made for an encouraging start at his new team for the England international, who revealed that he already has strong feelings for Liverpool.
"It's a blessing to be here and I'm humbled by the whole experience. The manager how shown a lot of faith to bring me here and pay the money," Sturridge told Sky Sports.
"My teammates have been fantastic with me, I get on with everybody. I already have a love for the club and it's growing day in, day out.
"Hopefully we can have a long relationship together and stay in love for the rest of our lives.
"The only time you actually realise how big the club is, is when you get here. I always knew Liverpool were a big club but I never realised how big they were until I joined.
"It's amazing to be a part of it all. When you hear 'You'll Never Walk Alone', it doesn't touch you when you're not playing for the club.
"But when you actually play for the club, you feel the passion and it gets you ready to play.
"It's always a weight off your shoulders if you start quite well; it has been a good start. I'm hard on myself and I like to do a lot better than I am doing.
"There's a lot more to come from me. I've been performing okay but this is a fraction of what I'm actually able to do.
"Hopefully I'll be able to show what I'm really capable of doing in months and years to come, when I'm playing week in, week out and I'm fully fit."
Asked about his fledgling combination with 22-goal Suarez, Sturridge agreed with suggestions that the pair have clicked quickly.
He continued: "It's going well. It's early days but the early signs are that we're playing well together - I'm sure that will continue.
"As you play with someone more regularly, you do things telepathically, you know where they're going to be and you start playing off the cuff.
"It has been easy to play with him from when I joined because we're kind of on the same wavelength and understand how each other play.
"It's important that we continue to work hard in training together and with our teammates to make sure we move up the table.
"It just happens. If you look at when Thierry Henry played with Dennis Bergkamp, or Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole - people like that just get along and happen to have chemistry on the field."
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Sturridge was regularly used as a wide forward during his time at Chelsea, leading to speculation on how Rodgers would position his new signing and Suarez together.
The former Manchester City man has led the line in his five appearances to date, a decision which paid fruit with three poacher's goals - and he feels that's the best place for him.
"Those are the goals that I'm used to scoring," Sturridge added.
"From the age of seven to 19 I was playing centre-forward so those are goals I've always scored - it's nothing new to me.
"I'm thankful to the manager for giving me the opportunity to play as a centre-forward, long may it continue.
"It was more what the manager said to me prior to coming to the club. I had a great chat with him.
"I didn't work with him at Chelsea but I spoke to players who had and the things they said about him were great.
"It was an easy decision, to be honest - it's a huge club, fantastic fans, great teammates, great manager. It's important to get my head down now, focus on my football and not worry about anything else.
"People don't realise that from the age of 17 I've had seven managers. It has been difficult to settle for me.
"I'm more mature now and I'm ready to play. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully this will be the club I settle at and stay for many years to come."