Liverpool star Daniel Sturridge made a surprise visit to a school this week to encourage children to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
The striker showed up at the St. Paul’s Catholic Junior School as part of the Sainsbury’s Active Kids 2015 Launch.
The England international posed for pictures with the excited children while sporting a chef’s hat and apron, and was all smiles as he fulfilled his “Active Kids” ambassadorial duties.
Sturridge marked his return to football after playing 22 minutes against West Ham at Anfield on Saturday after recovering from a serious thigh problem.
Before his return last weekend, his layoff period saw him out of action for 152 days and the squad was struggling for goals.
The England international was integral to Rodgers’ Anfield revival last season, scoring 24 goals in 33 appearances, propelling Liverpool to a second place finish.
Mario Balotelli had a quiet transfer deadline day this week and took advantage of it by going for dinner with his ex-girlfriend Raffaella Fico and their daughter Pia.
The estranged couple fought over a lack of DNA evidence that Balotelli was the biological father of the child two years ago.
However, after Fico took legal action, the striker eventually took a paternity test and began paying child support to baby Pia.
Balotelli has struggled since his return to England with Liverpool. The Italian has two goals, one each in the Champions League and Capital One Cup, but has yet to find the net in the Premier League.
Earlier in the transfer window Balotelli had been linked with a return to Italy – but that never materialised and the striker spent the final hours of the transfer window in San Carlo restaurant in Manchester.
Last week, Balotelli’s agent Mino Raiola said the striker was ‘very disappointed’ with his time at Liverpool but had no immediate plans to leave the club.
“The plan is to continue at Anfield. I saw him Monday and told him: “You have a four-year contract and I won’t bring you away. Or you leave Liverpool at 60-70 million, and I won my bet, or you’ll die there,” he said.