England international Daniel Sturridge has no desire to leave Liverpool and believes "something special" could be on the horizon under Jurgen Klopp.
The effervescent German was appointed to much fanfare in October,
having enjoyed a largely successful spell in the hot seat at Borussia
Dortmund.
The England international makes no secret of his desire to play more
regularly but has rejected suggestions he is growing unhappy at
Liverpool.
"Yeah, of course I am happy here," Sturridge said.
"I'm happy. I'm happy. I have never expressed not being happy here. I think it is everyone playing Devil's Advocate.
"They see that I have been left out sometimes and they think 'maybe
that means he is unhappy' but, at the end of the day, the manager has
got a job to do.
"He has got to pick the team that he feels is best on the day. And I
have got a job to do, which is to perform when I am playing.
"I have had the injuries and I have been in and out of the side in
recent times but it has never been a case that I am not happy at the
club.
"I am grateful to the club for giving me the chance to come here from Chelsea. I am grateful to Brendan for signing me as well.
"Now Jurgen has come in and he is giving me minutes on the pitch. You know -- I could not be playing at all.
"But, of course, I want to be playing in every game. It's one of those things that you have to take on the chin."
There is, Sturridge says, no friction with Klopp. There's only the natural disappointment of a player not starting a match.
The striker's confidence in his ability remains undimmed, though, and
he feels as fit as ever, having put in extra hours as Liverpool's
season comes to a close and Euro 2016 with England looms large.
"It's a few months since I have been back and I haven't even had a day off," Sturridge said. "I'm not even fronting.
"I actually haven't had a day off. When the other boys have had days off, I have been in.
"It has just been extra stuff, whether I have been training or doing recovery work, I have been doing it.
"I am not trying to create a sob story. At the end of the day, we get
paid to do this and this is my dream. I can't complain. I'm just
grateful to God for the opportunity to be here."
Sturridge made the most of his chance from the outset in Thursday's
Europa League semifinal second leg against Villarreal, scoring one and
playing a key role in another as Liverpool won 3-0.
The explosive manner of his goal celebration was unusual but borne
out of relief and the fact it was his biggest for a club he hopes there
will be "bigger games and a lot more bigger goals."
Netting in the Europa League final against Sevilla on May 18 would
likely better Thursday's strike and victory in Basle may kick-start what
Sturridge believes is an exciting future under Klopp.
"We get that impression as players," he said. "Hopefully it is the
start of something special but we will take each game as it comes.
"We didn't win the last final we played in, so we have to learn from that. I think this game has shown we have learned.
"This was a massive game, playing on our home turf. But we took
things from the Capital One Cup in to Villarreal. We couldn't have any
regrets. We had to put everything in to it to try and get the results."
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