The Mirror have reported that Chelsea’s young striker Daniel Sturridge, currently on loan at Bolton, is attracting the eye of Gerard Houllier. This is not the first occasion that the 21-year-old has been linked to Villa Park, with ex-boss Martin O’Neill believed to have been interested in bringing the England Under-21 international to the club when Manchester City failed to tie him down to a contract. Instead, Chelsea stepped in to capture the hot prospect but have utilized him very little since and hence dent him off to join Owen Coyle’s men to gain first team experience. Since the January switch the pacy front man has netted in every one of his 4 appearances for Bolton.
Before his recent run in the Premier League, Sturridge had not started a game for the current champions this term, despite coming off the bench on no less than 13 occasions. With Chelsea having signed Torres, chances may become more limited at Stamford Bridge, although the Spaniard’s failure to hit form coupled with the recent demise in performances and indeed goals from the ageing Didier Drogba will give the youngster hope at the club yet. When he signed for Wanderers he made his intentions to rejoin with Chelsea at the end of the season known, but a recent run in the first team at the Reebok may have given him a taste for the league. Bolton are unsurprisingly keen to keep hold of Sturridge, with Elmander looking to leave in the summer, but Houllier will be hoping to fight off interest from his league rivals. Despite having few and far between chances at Chelsea and before that, Man City, the 21-year-old has a decent record 6 in 32 at Eastlands (of which only 12 were starts) along with 9 in 41 for Chelsea having only started 10 games.
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