It has been a hellish couple of seasons for Daniel Sturridge with the Liverpool striker injured for much of last term, but with injuries still plaguing the England forward - is it still worth hanging onto the player?

Manager Jürgen Klopp has reportedly given all of his players until may to prove their worth, and with Sturridge featuring so little under the German should he be kept on the books?

There will be little argument in saying that the striker is one of the best finishers in England and his talents are undisputed but can a player that is so regularly sidelined be relied upon? Or should they cash in and reinvest on someone who can play more frequently?

Background

Sturridge came through the Manchester City youth system and was seen as a promising young talent with a keen eye for goal. However, his aims of breaking into the Sky Blues' first-team hit a major speedbump when billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008. 

The striker saw his route to playing reguarly blocked by a host of expensive signings so he opted to leave City on a Bosman transfer, joining Chelsea FC in the summer of 2009. After much controversy surrounded his transfer fee due to his age being under 24, his signing was taken to a tribunal. The committee in charge of the hearing ruled that Chelsea should £3.5 million upfront with the full fee possibly rising to more than £6.5 million based on appearances.

With his move to Chelsea it looked as if Sturridge would settle at Stamford Bridge. He performed well in his debut season, scoring a number of goals, but with experienced players in his way he found himself back at square one. A loan to Bolton Wanderers was set up in a bid to give the striker more experience and it proved a major success with the forward bagging eight goals in 12 games. 

But Sturridge was never given a real opportunity to showcase his talents in the following seasons at the Bridge, often being used as winger when he he wanted to operate in his preferred striker role.

Liverpool could offer him this and the player then aged 23 was sold to the Reds by ex-manager Rafael Benitez, a move that saw the start of a formidable partnership with Suarez.

With the Uruguayan linking up with the English international, they become of the most clinical striking duos in all of Premier League history scoring more than 50 goals in their first full season together. 

Injury problems

The injury issues that Sturridge has faced are beginning to serve as a major joke to anyone but Liverpool fans. The striker missed much of last season with injuries and without his impact and his goals, Liverpool dropped from second to sixth and fared miserably in the Champions League as they struggled to score.

In total the 26-year-old has picked up eight injuries since signing for the club and has subequently missed 75 matches which left former manager Brendan Rodgers with few options last season. The summer signings of Christian Benteke from Aston Villa and Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim have alleviated some of the pressure in the offensive line up, but the two are not as prolific as Sturridge is - at least yet.

So far Sturridge has injured his ankle twice, his hip twice and his hamstring twice along with a host of smaller injuries that he has picked up during training. In one of Klopp's first press conferences, he revealed that the forward had to miss some training sessions due to his body not being strong enough to cope with the pressure of further training. Klopp also seemed to take a swipe at Sturridge as he said he must learn the difference between whether his problems are "serious pain or only pain."

The striker may never recover from his injury troubles, having seen various surgeons and specialists about his different problems, and this may be one of the reasons the club may have thought about offloading him.

With Klopp's intensity levels set to increase over the summer, as he looks to imprint his style on the club, it could be that he won't want to risk having such an injury-stricken play in his squad.

Statistical view - how important is he to the squad?

Sturridge is a fantastic player with bags of ability, that much is clear. When he is fully fit you can easily name the striker in a list of top ten strikers in the world, alonside the likes of Sergio Aguero and Karim Benzema - but how important are his goals and where would Liverpool be without them?

So far in his time at Anfield, the Reds' No.15 has hit 37 goals for the Reds, producing a better strike-rate than strikers such as Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Fernando Torres and even his former strike partner Suarez. These stats essentially highlight the importance that he has at the club but do the goals outweigh the injuries?

The player has featured just six times this season scoring four times in the process, but despite contributing braces in two wins, he hasn't played regularly enough. Liverpool have so far played 32 fixtures meaning Sturidge has played less than 20% of matches this season and for a top Premier League player, this is simply not good enough.

Steven Gerrard revealed in his autobiography how he had to plead with Sturridge to play in one match against Manchester United as he was allegedly carrying a slight knock. The forward scored that day but if a football player has to be begged to play, it doesn't exactly bode well in terms of his desire to feature when even slightly injured.

Jamie Carragher backed his former captain's comments, as he revealed in November that Sturridge had to be "100 per cent right" both "physically" and "mentally" to declare himself available to play, perhaps presenting the 26-year-old as somewhat of a primadonna. 

With his contract not due to expire until 2019 it means that any team looking to claim his signature would still have to pay a significant sum, but providing the striker can prove his fitness and remain fit - any team would be extremely lucky to have him in their side, and for that very reason - Liverpool could, and should, be reluctant to sell.

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About the author
Joel Lampkin
Sports Journalist from Chester University, Professional wrestling writer. Contact [email protected]