Blues slap £25m tag on Studge

CHELSEA have put a £25million price tag on anxious England striker Daniel Sturridge.

Sturridge, 22, fears that his first-team chances will be badly limited this season.

But, with both Liverpool and Tottenham interested, the European champions will not let him leave Stamford Bridge on the cheap.

Sturridge has not started any of the Blues’ three league games so far in 2012-13 and was also on the bench for the Community Shield clash against Manchester City.

Plus he knows that rejuvenated Fernando Torres is now boss Roberto Di Matteo’s first-choice striker following the July exit of Didier Drogba.

Sturridge spent most of last season as Chelsea’s right-sided attacker but that role is now filled by summer imports £32m Eden Hazard and £25m Oscar.

And even though he has always insisted he wants to play through the middle, Di Matteo’s determination to show faith in Torres means he must now settle for the role of back-up striker.

That is unlikely to match Sturridge’s ambitions, after breaking into the senior England squad last season and playing for Great Britain in the Olympic Games.

Sturridge, who only recently recovered from viral meningitis, still has two years of his contract to run and is far from impressed by the £25m price tag. He feels it has effectively ended any prospect of him moving on.

The player joined Chelsea in 2009, after refusing to sign a new contract to stay at Manchester City. His £6m transfer fee was set by tribunal.

City are also entitled to 15 per cent of any sell-on fee. Yet the Prem champs look unlikely to be reaping the benefits of that clause any time soon.