Daniel Sturridge must adapt to new style or leave Liverpool, says Dean Saunders
Thursday 9 February 2017 16:12, UK
Daniel Sturridge must adapt to Jurgen Klopp's style of football or face up to the possibility of leaving Liverpool, according to Dean Saunders.
Sturridge has started just four times in the Premier League this season with manager Klopp preferring to deploy Roberto Firmino in an advanced forward role, leading to speculation in the national press that the 27-year-old could be allowed to leave the club in the January transfer window.
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Saunders believes Sturridge represents Liverpool best attacking option, but concedes the England international is still yet to fully adapt to Klopp's high pressing style of football.
"I think Sturridge is up there with [Sergio] Aguero, talent wise. Firmino has been playing up the middle for Liverpool because he is better at getting the ball back. Sturridge, for real cutting edge and hurting you as a striker, is up there with the best," Saunders told Premier League Daily.
"But he just can't stay fit and they need to get to the bottom of it because the injuries are holding his career back.
"He is not getting a run of games together. Klopp has to play him up the middle, but does he react as quick as Firmino when you lose the ball? No, and that's why Firmino plays in front of him.
"He has got more talent than all of them, but he's got to fit into Klopp's formula, which is - when we lose the ball, we've got to get it back as quick as we can.
"The number nine that plays at the top, he is the first man on the scene and he obviously doesn't do it quick enough for Jurgen Klopp."
Sturridge, who has been linked with a switch to West Ham, has scored 57 times in 104 matches for Liverpool since joining from Chelsea in January 2013.
He formed a sensational partnership with Luis Suarez during the 2013/14 campaign, which nearly propelled Liverpool to their first league title since 1990, with the duo scoring a combined 52 goals.
But since Suarez's departure to Barcelona, Sturridge has struggled to maintain fitness and form, falling down the pecking order under Klopp.
"Sturridge has got more talent than everybody, do it or you're going to get moved on," added Saunders, who scored 25 goals in 61 appearances during a 12-month spell at Anfield between 1991 and 1992.
"I think that's going to happen in the end because if he's not playing, he's too good not to be playing, so in the end they will come to an agreement if that's the case.
"You would have thought by now he'd be sitting there thinking 'why am I not playing?' You're not playing because you're not working as hard as Firmino."
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