Should Reds get rid of injury-plagued star?
In September 2014, England was selected for a number of England games during an International break from the Premier League.
England played Switzerland in an international friendly, and San Marino in a 2016 European Championship qualifier.
During training, Sturridge hurt his thigh and had to withdraw from the squad,
“Heartbroken soul right now,” Sturridge tweeted. “Nothing worse than being injured. Hopefully be back soon fighting fit for LFC.”
He missed the next 7 Liverpool games. Now, in December 2015, Sturridge being injured is just as common as the sky being high and grass being green.
Strurridge often has struggled with injury since moving to Liverpool, but that injury in the England training really has been the catalyst for a torrid 15 months for the England striker.
And now the questions spring to mind, with Liverpool seeming to be building and improving under new manager Jurgen Klopp, are they going to benefit more from selling Daniel Sturridge? Will he be left behind and be a waste of talent with his constant injury problems? Will anyone actually buy him? Or is he too valuable for Liverpool to lose?
Since the injury with England in September 2014, Sturridge has missed 52 games for his club, missing out on most of the 2014/15 season with a major hamstring injury which kept him out for 18 games. He’s also suffered from hip injuries, knee injuries (which needed two operations and re-habitation in the United States to fix), and further hamstring injuries, one of which keeping him out now until at least the Christmas period.
Liverpool fans are getting frustrated. Just when they think that their powerhouse is about to get back into the side for good, he’s ruled out with another problem. They love him when he’s on the field, but are frustrated with him when he isn’t. Many fans are, indeed, calling for Klopp to get rid of the England international, but what I don’t think fans are seeing is the pure importance he has to the side. No matter how long he sits on the sidelines, Daniel Sturridge comes on and scores goals, he changes games, he is the difference to Liverpool.
Of course, all that is useless if he can’t keep himself fit. I know that, Klopp knows that, everyone knows that. But if Liverpool want to aim for a top 4 finish, and even things bigger than that, they need a bright striker who has the potential to be world class. Fans are calling for Klopp to go out and sign world-class players such as Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, a man who is very much a direct player in his approach to goal.
Klopp seems like a man who will give Sturridge a chance, and if he can sort the striker out, Liverpool don’t need the Lewandowski’s in the world. They have a quality, world-class striker sitting in the club stealing a living, a deadly forward man who can propel Liverpool to the very top of the league if he can stay fit for a whole season, even though that seems like an impossible ask as it stands. When he returns to the side for good, he is as valuable to Liverpool as Sergio Aguero is to Manchester City, and Alexis Sanchez is to Arsneal.
So should Jurgen Klopp sell his star striker due to his time off the field? I vote no, because everybody seems to be forgetting just how influential Sturridge is to the team. When he slots into the side alongside players such as Coutinho and Lallana, they have the creativity to create chances for him that he will, more often than not, put away and get the goals. Add players such as Firmino and Benteke into that mix, and get all those players playing well, and Liverpool have a very deadly strikeforce, one to be feared.
Better than the £25million Sturridge is probably worth? I’d certainly say so.
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
