One of the more bizarre stories to come from this week in football was the news of Daniel Sturridge's dog, Lucci, being kidnapped from his LA home on Monday evening.
The 29 year-old is currently a free agent and was enjoying his summer off in the States before coming home to find his $1.5m place broken into. Several things were taken from his home but kidnapping of his dog really grabbed the headlines and he took to social media to campaign for his safe return.
The former England international claimed he would "pay anything" to get his beloved pet back, even offering a massive reward of $30,000 to any information leading to re-claiming him.
Someone please help. Stolen from West Hollywood last night at 11:30pm.
— Daniel Sturridge (@DanielSturridge) July 10, 2019
A sizeable reward will be paid. Thanks for your co-operation pic.twitter.com/TC5egwuBfw
After days of posts on Twitter, Instagram and police searches, Lucci was finally returned to Sturridge on Wednesday evening.
He travelled down to south LA with his friends to collect his dog after rapper @KILLAFAME got in touch with him to say he found him.
The rapper posed for photos with the forward which were later posted to Twitter and everything looked to have ended nicely. Sturridge got his dog back and the people that found him were rewarded right?
Well it looks like this isn't the case. Despite Sturridge offering to "pay anything", Killa Fame claims that he hasn't received the reward that was promised.
And it hasn't gone down well with the American, who took to Twitter again to launch an assault on Sturridge in an attempt to get the money that he feels he's owed.
Honestly I’m just disappointed @DanielSturridge offer of 30,000€ is a life changing amount of money..
— F A M E (@K187LA) July 12, 2019
Especially when your without a home to live in with your family..
I’m done with the @DanielSturridge story #KILLAFAME
— F A M E (@K187LA) July 12, 2019
the 🌎 world has solidified that I don’t deserve the 30k€ reward offered. Even though as a person in a non home situation ; I returned the pet without a reward being given, I’m labeled as a bad person for being disappointed.
Those are just two of the things he had to say, but there was much more. The rappers social media rampage even saw him claim "if I was white I would of got the reward!!!!!!" - just one of the unbelievable statements which have now been removed.
The LAPD believe he wasn't associated with the crime and Sturridge's agent has said that he wanted to 'express his gratitude' and 'make sure you are paid accordingly', which perhaps led to the some of the tweets being deleted.
It looks like the former Liverpool man is awaiting the full investigation of the LAPD before handing over the money but the conduct of @KILLAFAME on social media leaves a lot to be desired.
But anyway, at least Lucci was returned back safe and sound which was the main thing and one funny thing did come from it which Sturridge posted on his official Instagram.
One fan put managed to fit Sturridge's original plea for his dogs return over the top of Stormzy's Vossi Bop. We have no idea whatsoever how someone thought of doing this, but it's now one of our favourite things. Give it a listen, it's ridiculous yet utterly brilliant.
