Daniel Sturridge has been linked with a January exit from Liverpool – one of the most tenuous transfer stories of the year so far.
On Monday evening, the Mirror‘s Darren Lewis claimed Sturridge wanted to quit the Reds in the next transfer window, after a lack of first-team opportunities have come his way this season.
The report suggests that both West Ham and Stoke City may be interested in making a move, with a laughable figure of £28 million apparently enough to get their man.
That’s less than Liverpool signed Christian Benteke for from Aston Villa, which highlights the nonsense being spouted.
While Sturridge clearly won’t be happy about the current state of affairs – a player of his ability should want to be playing every week – this story seems like a lot of nonsense.
Lewis has previous with Jurgen Klopp, having irritated the Liverpool manager in a press conference earlier in the year, while his constant negative articles surrounding Sturridge suggest he is simply trying to cause trouble.
When it comes to the 27-year-old, it is understandable that there are question marks over his long-term future in a Liverpool shirt, but not short-term.
Roberto Firmino is currently Klopp’s undisputed first-choice striker, while Divock Origi was also preferred to the Englishman on occasions last season, and there are some doubts about how he suits Liverpool’s current style of play.
With Sadio Mane away on African Cup of Nations duty in January, though, Sturridge still has a key role to play, as he already has done a number of times this season.
https://twitter.com/Chris78Williams/status/798462151333736449
While the former Chelsea man is still awaiting his first Premier League of the season, he shone in the 4-1 win over Leicester City and has found the net four times in the League Cup.
In terms of sheer talent, he remains arguably the Reds’ best player, along with Philippe Coutinho, and his goalscoring ability will be crucial in their quest for the Premier League title in 2016/17.
Rating Sturridge as a £28 million player is bordering on offensive – his left foot is worth that alone – and this just seems a concerted effort to rile Klopp.
As the January transfer window approaches, we have plenty more of this gibberish to look forward to.
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