Why Daniel Sturridge Is the Liverpool Player Arsenal Would Love to Sign

Arsenal’s forthcoming clash with Liverpool in the Premier League will provide an interesting insight into the credentials of each team.

While Liverpool will be hoping to demonstrate their potential to unsettle the top four, Arsenal have their sights set higher—they know that this season they must compete for the title itself.

If they are to do that, they may need to add another player or two before the end of the transfer window. The acquisition of Petr Cech has been hailed as the final piece of the jigsaw, but the truth is that high-quality additions would significantly improve Arsenal’s chances of silverware.

The question begs: Is there a Liverpool player who could help take Arsenal to the next level? Immediately, the options can be narrowed down to two positions. The Gunners are strong in many areas, but they could still do with fleshing out the squad in holding midfield and at centre-forward.

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The striking situation in north London is an intriguing one. Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott are both competent strikers, but both lack attributes in critical areas. They are almost yin and yang: Giroud has superb hold-up play and physical presence but lacks speed, whereas Walcott is lightning-quick but struggles to provide a focal fulcrum for the team. Danny Welbeck offers an all-round alternative but has yet to demonstrate the killer instinct integral to any elite centre-forward.

Daniel Sturridge could fit the bill. Of Liverpool’s attacking roster, he’s the player best suited to Arsenal’s requirements; Christian Benteke is a little too similar in style to Giroud, and the less said about Mario Balotelli the better.

For starters, Sturridge is arguably a better finisher than any of Arsenal’s current crop, dispatching chances with ice-cold ease. He might not be as quick as Walcott, but he’s certainly significantly faster than Giroud.

However, he also has the technical skill required to enable him to join up in Arsenal’s precise approach play. His combination play with Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling in a previous incarnation of this Liverpool side was a joy to behold.

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Sturridge is not yet absolute world-class, but he has the potential to be in that echelon. Arsene Wenger has worked wonders with the likes of Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Adebayor in the past, and at 25, the England international should still have room for improvement. With the likes of Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla supplying him with ammunition, Sturridge could score 25-30 goals per season.

The greatest barrier to him achieving that kind of record would be injuries. Sturridge has an unfortunate tendency to pull up with hamstring trouble as soon as he finds a groove.

Given Arsenal’s history of injury problems, that would be a definite concern for Gunners fans. They would simply have to hope that, like Robin van Persie before him, his body would become sturdier as he matured into his late 20s.

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What’s frustrating about Sturridge is that Arsenal could have signed him up at various points in the past. When Sturridge moved from Manchester City to Chelsea, then subsequently to Liverpool, Arsenal could have muscled in on the deals but instead stood back.

There is almost no probability of this transfer taking place now—having already lost the likes of Suarez and Sterling in recent summers, Liverpool will not contemplate selling another star forward. However, were Sturridge ever to appear on the market, he certainly ought to be on Arsenal’s list.

Although not quite of the top-class calibre they crave, he has every chance of making the step in time.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.