Arsenal are reported to be favourites to sign Daniel Sturridge this summer should he leave his club, but is he the man you would all favour to lead our line next season?
We recently ran a poll in which just over 25% of you would rather neither Alvaro Morata or Jamie Vardy leading our attack next season, and now Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge is re-emerging as a possible target.
The former Chelsea and Manchester City forward has been consistent at finding the back of the net in recent seasons when he is fit, but that is the problem. Sturridge has managed only 26 appearances over the past two league campaigns, and unless that changes, he is surely a risky target.
With the England international likely to command a fee in excess of £25 Million also, for me he is simply not a viable option, especially when we already have injury-prone stars Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott in the squad.
I know many of you, as well as me, are hoping the latter makes a move this summer, with West Ham and others linked with his capture, but unless two other players come in as cover, I just can’t see him being allowed to move on.
Also IF Danny Sturridge did become a serious target, that could possibly mean that we have to keep Theo as further cover, due to the Liverpool man’s failure to stay fit as often as he would like.
The Morata and Vardy deals are up in the air at present, with time causing further more doubt over the likelihood of deals for either, and other options will no doubt be in the thoughts of Arsene Wenger.
Should we pursue a deal for Sturridge? Who else should be considered?
Pat J
Yes, we absolutely should. The Arsenal rule requires at least 3 players to be injured at any given time and since Diaby left, there have been spells where we are in danger of violating this central principle. A Sturridge signing should help us meet this important rule and I’m sure he’d score at least 3 remarkable goals a season.
He always injury… I don’t think good idea!
He is clearly arsenal material, he will help us to come top of the table, you know the one, it is most days lost to injury.
Injury prone but deadly striker vs deadly but old striker vs an expensive unproven striker that has yet to become a natural goalscorer
I wouldn’t mind Studge or Vardy, but Morata is too expensive in comparison to what he has shown. Due to his inconsistency (injury prone) I would rather take Vardy over sturridge. Vardy’s old, but gold.
Best answer : neither of them
Sturridge is always injured, Morata hasn’t shown any sign of being a consistent goal scorer and looks like he will struggle in the PL, while Vardy has one or two seasons in him and might not even fit in the team’s style of play. They may seem better than Giroud but they won’t make a big difference to what we already have. We need someone who will take us to the level Sanchez and Ozil are expecting Arsenal to be at.
Here is an interesting statistic 2015/16,
position in PL, team, days lost to injury
1 leicester 313
2 arsenal 840
3 tottenham 1011
4 man city 1307
5 manu 1610
So the secret to winning the PL is nothing to do with the players, manager, tactics, motivation etc it is all to do with minimising days lost to injury.
This has been common knowledge for the past 12 years…
nope thats not true, jonm was the one who wrote those interesting stats you didnt know that dont lie
Have you forgotten the number of times Arsenal lost the chance to fight for the title because of injuries ? It’s been that way for years
You know honestly the only thing that has ever given me doubt about Sturridge is his injury record. If that was non-existent then he would be an ideal ST for any team in the league. He’s young, technical, strong, and has good pace. It’s a shame he spent more time out like our very own Wilshere.
I honestly think we should get Vardy and Sturridge for a number of reasons. We already know that the type of training and play we do makes our players more likely to get injured and hence should always have a squad bigger than most covering all positions. I would immediately make Vardy our main man against slower, defensive sides- use Sturridge as our more tactical option with attacking teams and Giroud as our tactical super sub coming in at the 70 minute mark. By the time Welbeck comes back, we will either be talking of Giroud retiring or just healthy competition to the strikers that stay uninjured.
AOB: Does anyone out there agree with me that we should consider going in for Memphis(i know he is not a priority). I think the kid is under valued and under utilised and at Arsenal, he might surprise us- thinking out loud
Not bad and quite prolific but too injury prone. I think I would go for Vardy instead and get Janssen as back up.
getting and injury-prone Sturridge will only make sense if we get a Vardy along with him… can’t be building our entire season on an injury-prone player.
those two ll surely do well at Arsenal.
I e pect Vardy to say no. As I understand it Arsenal are only offering an additional £20k per week – in the great scheme of things that’s not a big difference-
This gives him the option of-
A: Stay = guaranteed legendary status at Leicester for life – even if do little/nothing next year
B: Move = career possibly ends (if doesn’t fit into team / get played). No legendary status – previous fans may turn on him for leaving. Possibly proves himself at a higher level, in a bigger team – loved by new fans (but unlikely to become a legend at Arsenal in 1 or 2 seasons)
I just don’t think we are offering a compelling reason to move. But I really think we should force it – offer him an additional £3m signup bonus – so it’s an offer he can’t refuse
Reason:
Arsenal>>>>>Leicester
And then there’s LONDON and EMIRATES stadium among others.
Its a simple decision to made in my opinion.
I strongly agree with you that we should go for both Vardy & Sturridge. Sturridge, because he is a class act, like Welbeck in mobility but 10xDeadlier as a finisher; even though obvious likelihood of injury. Vardy, yes, yes, yes, and yes pay him a signing on fee of £3m would still make it under £25m which is a snip – which is the same amount practically that we could get from Liverpool for Wallcott who has totally lost it for us. It could be good for Wallcott himself too, a new club/challenge. Brilliant business for all concerned – swap Sturridge with Wallcott, even. So for total outlay of £25m we would get Sturridge & Vardy who together (in rotation) would deliver the goals to lift us higher in the EPL than where we
would otherwise be which in turn would bring in more money from the PL due to the better positioning. By the way a £3m signing on fee is just 6 month’s wages for Vardy. Pay it Mr Wenger, don’t repeat the “£40m +£1” ridicule-ness (metaphorically speaking). You will regret it again otherwise.
Same old cheapskate Wenger (except for his favourites like Theo/Ramsey)
Offerring Vardy just £20,000 more
Lewandowski is on £160,000 per week but even if we went for him Wenger probably would offer him £175,000 or something like that
We could have kept Sagna if he had offerred a bit more instead of getting Debuchy
In the mean time Wenger gives a ridiculous amount for Walcott (|£140,000)
Sell Theo and use that money for quality players
@arsenal-girl
If we had kept Bacary, then Belerin would more than likely still be on loan at Watford…
It sound like you know Wenger (or his stinginess) very well. For a man who is supposed to have an Economics degree how little sense one can make of his financial dealings (except for his own very handsome salary). Sturridge & Walcott, simple swap; Vardy: pay an extra 3m signing on fee – for £25m, a snip. Lewandowski: pay him the same as £220k a week, it will pay it back in goals. The secret word for Wenger is “PAY”. And yet he paid £15m for a totally unknown defender, second choice at Southampton, two or three years ago call Chambers who has hardly featured for us! One doesn’t need an Economics degree to see that something is very wrong somewhere!
I’ve always really liked sturidge but his injury record is an issue obviously. Even if we buy a robust striker a few training at arsenal we’ll have them broken anyway, we seem to be very good at this!
Forget all 3 and buy Lukaku and Janssen instead.