Free agent Daniel Sturridge opts for Turkish club after offers from US and China.
Former Liverpool and England striker Daniel Sturridge has joined Trabzonspor on a three-year deal, the Turkish Super League side said on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old was released by Liverpool at the end of his contract in June, ending a six-year stay at the Merseyside club where he scored 67 goals in 160 matches in all competitions.
Trabzonspor confirmed that they had landed Sturridge as a free agent in a post on Twitter which contained a picture of the England international wearing the club’s jersey. Their best proposal, offering him a three-year contract understood to be worth just under €3 million per year, has officially been accepted.
Fenerbahce, where Liverpool’s former director of football Damien Comolli is the sporting director, were also interested in Sturridge but he has signed a three-year contract with their Super Lig rivals. Trabzonspor were among the first clubs to approach Sturridge following his departure from Liverpool.
Sturridge will be reunited with former Chelsea team-mate John Obi Mikel who signed on a two-year deal earlier this summer.
Sturridge scored 67 goals in 160 appearances for Liverpool after joining from Chelsea in January 2013, but has failed to find the net since September 2018. He made 18 Premier League appearances for Liverpool during the 2018/19 season.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said the attacker “earned the right to be considered a modern-day great” at Anfield, adding “he came while we were trying to rebuild and re-establish ourselves. Some of the goals he has scored for us were so, so, so important.”
The Englishman is eligible to play football again after completing a ban for breaching the FA’s gambling regulations.
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