Sturridge offered trial with LaLiga side Real Mallorca

Daniel Sturridge has been invited to trial with Spanish club Real Mallorca as he looks to return to football following a 15-month absence.

The former Liverpool striker has been without a club since he was forced to leave Turkish side Trabzonspor after being handed a four-month ban from all football-related activity worldwide for breaching betting rules.

Sturridge was banned for six weeks in July 2019 for providing his family with inside betting information on his own transfer negotiations. But following a successful appeal by the FA, his ban was increased to four months in March 2020.

The 31-year-old was unable to secure a club for the 2020-2021 season but has been working hard to get himself back to full fitness, regularly posting videos of his workouts on Instagram.

Mallorca, who won promotion to LaLiga last season, confirmed they have invited the forward for a trial.

A statement on the club’s website read: ‘RCD Mallorca has extended an invitation for Daniel Sturridge (Birmingham, England, 1989) to participate from tomorrow, July 14, in the training sessions of the club’s first team as part of its preparation process.’

Sturridge spoke to the High Performance Podcast about his ambitions to get back into football at the end of June and insisted he is fitter than ever.

‘Moving forward for me now I am driven. I know I have it. I know I am me. I am so confident. It is hard to explain it. I just feel it and people will see it,’ he enthused

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‘I am training so hard now my playing weight is back where it was eight years ago. I am obsessed by the fact that I know I want to be what I was before and better that. I will be better than that. I am wiser now. I am older now.