Jurgen Klopp has claimed he never considered selling Daniel Sturridge in the summer.
The striker spent much of last term on the bench and when he was selected, looked a shadow of the 2013/14 version that alongside Luis Suarez, almost fired us to the title.
But the Englishman improved towards the end of the campaign and scored a vital goal against West Ham which helped us qualify for the Champions League; and impressed during pre-season, too.
“We had a good talk and it was not a case of him asking when or where he could go. It was about what we planned for this season,” Klopp told the Guardian.
Now, the boss wants to set Sturridge’s schedule so he plays once a week, to maximise his training in between games.
This, according to the boss, will see us reap the rewards of the forward’s best level.
“He is important to us and I could have taken him to Leicester in midweek but I can only select 11 players and Daniel would not have started. So we took a responsible decision. Rather than take him for 10 or maybe 20 minutes from the bench, we thought it was better to leave him behind so he could train twice and get better physically. We had Dom Solanke and Danny Ings for the bench and the more Daniel trains the better he gets, so that was the only reason for it.”
We expect Sturridge to start alongside Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino at the King Power today, with Sadio Mane still suspended.
The Senegalese will be back for the midweek trip to Spartak Moscow (which we predict will demote Sturridge on the bench) and next weekend for the Newcastle game…
As a result, Sturridge will need to fire on all cylinders against Leicester to keep his spot in the Premier League front-three.