I knew I had to join Liverpool from Chelsea – what they said to me blew my mind

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The former Liverpool and Chelsea star never had any doubt about switching clubsFormer Liverpool star Daniel Sturridge once admitted that it was Liverpool's application to their famous 'Moneyball' model that enticed him to move to Anfield. Despite having won the Champions League with Chelsea just before moving to Anfield, Sturridge struggled for game time at Stamford Bridge.READ MORE: I rejected chance to sign for Liverpool and Arsenal - I do wonder if I made the right decisionREAD MORE: Mohamed Salah's gesture filmed on Liverpool bench says everything about Galatasaray defeatHowever, it was Liverpool's exhaustive due diligence that convinced Sturridge that his underlying numbers and huge promise at the Blues could materialise into something extraordinary if he joined the club."It was in how they relayed their plan to me of what they wanted to do and what they wanted to achieve," Sturridge told FourFourTwo in July 2024."They talked a lot about the statistics; the Moneyball type of thing.

I think I was one of the first players, if not the first, that they’d signed with that in mind, which was all based on stats."Things such as conversion rates – they were like, ‘You don’t get many opportunities, but when you play, you score, and also this and this, and we’ve seen this other thing, too’. I really liked the way they were thinking."Liverpool owners, FSG, have often been aligned with a ‘Moneyball’ approach to recruitment, a term coined by author Michael Lewis in his book about Billy Beane and his time spent as General Manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team.While it's often mistaken as buying players on the cheap, it's in fact based around empirical analysis and statistics to drive recruitment decisions.

"I want to play. So, when Liverpool came, it was like, ‘This is an unbelievable football club and if they want me, I’m going’".Sturridge scored 67 goals in 160 appearances for Liverpool.