YOU are 20 years old, earn £60,000 a week and play football for a living.
Life is sweet, huh? Well, Daniel Sturridge seems to think so. Others, though, are not so sure.
Yes he's rich, young and talented enough to be hailed as one of the best prospects in English football.
And as a result he swapped Manchester City for Chelsea last summer where he expected to become 'The Next Big Thing'.
But it's not quite worked out that way so, as George Best was once famously asked, where did it all go wrong?
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Well, let's start on the pitch. Anyone who saw Chelsea's four-goal romp against Atletico Madrid last week might have noticed Sturridge.
He was one of the guys in fluorescent bibs warming up on the sidelines before making a very brief and rare appearance near the end. In fact, he got a whole 12 minutes when he replaced Nicolas Anelka - but it was his Champions League debut for the Blues.
His Premier League appearances (all two of them) have totalled 17 minutes. So out of more than 21 hours of competitive football played by Chelsea so far this season Sturridge has been involved in 29 minutes.
Not quite the big impact that was expected from the lad nicknamed 'Studge' by his team-mates.
Unfortunately, 'Studge' is not the only thing the young striker has been called by some of his fellow professionals.
Arrogant, aloof, complacent and wasteful are a few of the other adjectives which, no doubt, have bounced around Chelsea's Surrey training HQ over the last three months.
His attitude in training has often not been as good as others as has his reaction to the lack of game time he has been given.
Until recently, though, Sturridge was seemingly either unwilling or too big-headed to realise that if you don't put the effort in on the training pitch you won't be considered for the real thing.
Senior players have taken him aside and had a quiet word - some of it critical but lots of it aimed at encouraging him to change and realise his potential.
It's not that Sturridge is disliked by his team-mates, most of them recognise the value he could be to Chelsea and are frustrated with him.
Boss Carlo Ancelotti had no input on his signing, which was done before he arrived and was mostly on the advice of Academy director Frank Arnesen.
The manager gave him a chance during the pre-season tour of America, where he looked like a player who could make a real impact.
Even former boss Jose Mourinho remarked on Sturridge's talent after his Inter side lost 2-0 to the Blues in California.
It was also Mourinho, however, who gave an insight into why young players' heads are turned away from football and towards its rewards instead. Mourinho said last weekend: "It's a generational problem with young players today.
"Twenty years ago, at age 20, you were a man. Today it's a rarity to find guys that age who aren't surrounded by hangers-on who destabilize them.
"Guys who don't just think about money and driving a Ferrari or a Bentley, guys who are willing to work hard and be professional."
Mourinho was responding to a question about Inter's protege, Mario Balotelli, but the depiction is true of many young footballers.
Sturridge has spent most of his life surrounded by people telling him he is the best already - not just going to be.
And he's not the only young hopeful whose career would suffer from believing his own hype.
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Not so long ago, David Bentley was considered a world beater - now he cannot even put up a fight for a place on the bench at Spurs.
When Sturridge arrived at Chelsea, displacing two of the best strikers in the business in Didier Drogba and Anelka was always going to be a tall order.
At the same time, the erratic Salomon Kalou is next in the pecking order while Ancelotti has put a quality striker at the top of his transfer wish-list for January should the club be allowed to sign players.
So what next for the young Englishman? Well, three weeks ago Ancelotti decided to offer Sturridge some very good advice.
With Drogba and Kalou missing for up to a month at the turn of the year on African Nations Cup duty, there is a chance to grasp the nettle.
If he bucked up his ideas and put the work in, partnering Anelka in a crucial phase of the season was a very realistic prospect.
By all accounts, Sturridge's response has been positive. He's running faster, working harder and showing he's worthy of the faith Chelsea showed when signing him.
He is in line to start tonight's Carling Cup match against Bolton and has been told the real prize of regular football is still his to win.
It's the biggest challenge of his career to date and one he cannot afford to fail.
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:25 pm