Daniel Sturridge’s status as Liverpool’s No 1 striker is under threat after Brendan Rodgers revealed his intention to sign a top forward who can ‘play every week’.
The England forward will be absent once again at The Hawthorns as he continues to be plagued by a hip problem and Rodgers admitted he does not know if Sturridge will play for Liverpool again this season.
It has been a nightmare year for Liverpool in terms of goals. They had 88 after 32 matches last season but now, at the same stage, their total is 47 and not one of their players feature in the top 25 leading scorers in the Barclays Premier League.
Sturridge has also endured a nightmare campaign. He missed five months due to calf and thigh issues and has struggled for consistency in the games he has managed to play. His length of time out has been extreme but history shows absences are not uncommon in his career.
If Liverpool are to get back to where Rodgers wants them to be, they need goals.
Belgium striker Divock Origi will arrive this summer, while they are trying to sign Danny Ings from Burnley and have registered a firm interest in PSV Eindhoven’s Memphis Depay. But they are not going to be the peak of Liverpool’s ambitions and Rodgers is searching for a proven attacker he will be able to call on consistently.
When asked how many strikers he wanted to sign, Rodgers said: ‘I’m not sure but I need one that is going to be playing at a top level every week. It can make a huge difference. If you look at teams who are successful they have that — a consistent striker.’
Sturridge picked up this latest injury on March 22 against Manchester United.
Rodgers was asked if he felt the stage had now been reached where he no longer considers Sturridge to be his first-choice striker and he said: ‘Listen, that’s entirely for you to write. He’s not fit and once he can show that consistency and fitness, you can see in his performance level that it’s a high one.
‘But he has missed a lot of the season, so we need to assess it. Either way, if he’s not available, we need to have that support. We have to hope with Daniel (that) this year was just an unlucky season.’ – Daily Mail