City to demand £7 million for Sturridge

The Telegraph is reporting that we are set to demand a fee of £7 million for Daniel Sturridge when the tribunal is held in a week or so's time on January 14th:

City had initially planned to target a £10 million figure, but the club have now set what they consider a more realistic figure of £7 million for the England U21 forward.

Chelsea, who gave Sturridge a four-year contract last summer, are expected to offer less than half the figure being sought by City, however, and the London club will point to his restricted involvement at Eastlands last season, when he made just 26 senior appearances for Hughes’s team, as justification for their own lesser valuation.

As ever with these siutations, it is near impossible to predict an accurate figure - even moreso with a lack of any real precedent being set.

I'd anticipate a final figure somewhere in the middle of what we are asking and Chelsea are offering - around the £5 million mark.

Not a huge amount if he lives up to his obvious potential, but equally, a sizeable figure given the limited action he saw with us up until his departure in the summer.