DANIEL STURRIDGE EXCLUSIVE: There's a myth about me being arrogant... but I'm just a happy guy

We are family: Sturridge with his mum and dad during the FIFA World Cup tour

Eyes on the prize: Sturridge with the World Cup trophy during its tour of London

Lots of modern players claim to be students of the game but Sturridge knows his stuff. He watches videos of Diego Maradona and  Thierry Henry, Ronaldo and Alan Shearer — anyone he feels he can learn from in improving the skills that enable him to score his goals in a variety of different ways.

He likens his partnership with Luis Suarez at Liverpool to some from years ago. He talks of ‘Shearer and Sutton’ as well as ‘Yorke and Cole’ and ‘Bergkamp and Henry’. He says: ‘I love watching the footage they run of old Premier League seasons. I can sit and watch for hours. Yorke and Cole were innovators in the way they played together. That season in ’99. Brilliant.’

He recognises the fact that partnerships of the kind he now enjoys with his Uruguayan colleague are something of a rarity with the development of more modern formations. ‘When it was all about 4-4-2 it was more common,’ he says. ‘But they can still thrive today, and I’d like to think I can develop a partnership with Wayne Rooney in the England side in the way I have with my mate Luis.’

Golden touch: World Cup winner Christian Karembeu with the Liverpool and England striker

Laugh it off: The 24-year-old will be crucial for England's World Cup hopes in Brazil this summer

Samba stars: Sturridge met Ronado and Cafu when he travelled to Switzerland as a fan in 2006

Transfer: Sturridge signed for Liverpool in January last year from Chelsea

Champions: Manchester United's title-winning strike force of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole

On the move: Sturridge hopes to form a partnership with Wayne Rooney at the World Cup for England

In the past some have suggested his failure to settle at those clubs was partly down to him. A lack of patience, or a degree of arrogance. Maybe even a bit of surliness. 

This, however, is not the young man sitting before me here. He could not be more charming, humble and respectful.

He could not be more modest about the medals he has won — a Premier League, a Champions League and two FA Cup winners’ medals sit with the medals he won in the Aston Villa Under 9 side.

But why has it taken this long, until Liverpool, to firmly establish himself. ‘With City it wasn’t a case of the club doing anything wrong,’ he says. ‘They had a lot of money at the time and were buying a lot of strikers and for a young player of 18, it would have been a bit silly for me to stay with the strikers they bought. They had Felipe Caicedo, Jo, Craig Bellamy, they signed about six or seven strikers.

‘I just didn’t feel like I would get an opportunity there, because I knew it would only get worse, because they had more money. So I thought the best place to go, with the things Chelsea said to me, was London. 

‘I thought I’ll learn from Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, two world-class footballers. I knew I wasn’t going to start straight away. I knew I had to wait my turn.

Delight: After a tricky first season, Brendan Rodgers has transformed Liverpool into title contenders

Struggle: Sturridge couldn't find the playing time at Manchester City an moved to Chelsea

Learning curve: Sturridge spent a lot of time at Chelsea watching Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka

‘I’m thankful to Chelsea and City. I’ll always love the staff at City, the academy staff especially. They changed my family’s life, moving us when I moved to City. 

‘It was all part of my journey. But it’s fair to say that Chelsea didn’t fully believe in me. I’m not saying I have to feel loved, I don’t have to feel loved, I just have to know that the manager believes in me and he’s giving me an opportunity on the field. I didn’t start a single game as a centre forward at Chelsea in the league, so it was very difficult.’

Is he arrogant? ‘No!’ he says. ‘This is the thing, I don’t know what the aura is. People get me so wrong. I don’t know if it’s a myth or what it is. I’m a normal guy. I’m very approachable. Anyone who knows me, I’ll talk to anyone. I have no issues with anybody. 

‘I just feel as if there’s a myth about me being arrogant or not wanting to speak to people. I think that (my expression) is just the way I am, sometimes I’m not smiling all the time but I am a happy guy. I’m smiling on the inside and it looks as though I’m not smiling, but I am.

Limited: Sturridge often played out of position during his time at Chelsea

Chip: Sturridge scores against Everton during his spell on loan at Bolton

‘It hurts me a bit, that people have an opinion when they’ve never met me and I’m glad we have met, so it changes your opinion hopefully.’

Is Rodgers the difference in his life? ‘Of course,’ he says. ‘It was the same when Owen Coyle took me on loan for Bolton. I had the belief from him and I just wanted to do as best as I could for him.

‘It’s the same with the gaffer now. He’s put belief in me, he’s a world-class manager, he’s unbelievable. Tactically unbelievable. Your mentality changes without knowing it, and the more and more you work with him the more and more it just happens naturally.’

Rodgers suggested that Sturridge should work with Dr Steve Peters, the sports psychiatrist now assisting Roy Hodgson with England. 

‘He’s a great man,’ says Sturridge. ‘I enjoy talking to him. The gaffer said to me I should see him, to be at peace with myself after some of the stuff I’d been through. When I arrived at Liverpool my confidence was low. Now I’ll even speak to Steve on the phone or on Skype.’

Dink: Sturridge scoring a equaliser for Liverpool against Fulham at Craven Cottage