Hodgson has Sturridge doing extra training sessions to prove England fitness

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England manager Roy Hodgson has asked Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge to do extra training sessions in an attempt to prove his fitness ahead of Euro 2016, reports Sky Sports.

The striker, according to Hodgson, turned up to international duty with a calf problem, and was unable to feature in either of the friendly victories as a result – although he wasn’t injured with Liverpool and hasn’t trained since his selection – which has made Reds fans question the claims…

Worryingly for Sturridge, Marcus Rashford started for England against Australia on Friday, and marked his international debut with a goal. Naturally, England fans jumped on the bandwagon and many are suggesting that the teenager will go to France instead of our goal getter.

Hodgson has to cut three names from his current 26 man roster, and must submit his final squad on Tuesday. Fabien Delph will definitely be dropped, but the other two spots are up in the air. If Sturridge was injured on international duty, the idea to give him extra training sessions at the end of a long hard season and before an international tournament seems absurd, but that’s Hodgson for you.

“Sturridge has a minor injury and we hope it will settle down tomorrow,” he said.

“He’ll be doing extra training on Sunday and he’ll be throwing his hat into the ring and it looks like 25 players will be asking for a seat on the plane and that I’m going to have to disappoint two of them.

“It isn’t just a question of quality of player but it’s also about the balance of the team. There’s a lot of factors to consider and we’ve been doing that non-stop in the build-up and playing two different teams have given me a chance to test some things out.”

Rashford is undeniably an enormous talent, which hurts to admit considering he’s going to play for Manchester United for the foreseeable, but he’s not yet at the level of Sturridge – potentially England’s best striker when fully fit.

Still, giving Sturridge the summer off may help Liverpool long-term, so it’s difficult to know what we should be hoping for.

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