Daniel Sturridge was so irritated by Jamie Carragher’s comments on Sky Sports in which he claimed his former team-mate would leave Liverpool this summer, he demanded an explanation.
Carra’s very outspoken and not afraid of giving an opinion, especially when it comes to Liverpool. But it came back to bite him during a recent trip to Australia!
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The centre-back turned pundit played with Liverpool, alongside Steven Gerrard and a few other veterans, in our end of season friendly with Sydney FC, claiming Sturridge was visibly annoyed and confronted him after the 3-0 win…
Our incredibly talented but often-injured striker was angry Carra had suggested Jurgen Klopp will look to cash in this transfer window.
“I’ve got a funny story about that, and I didn’t mind it actually – I was happy about it,” he told the Echo.
“As soon as I got on the plane, I could see Sturridge wasn’t his normal self with me. And he pulled me in Australia after the game, or at half time when we’d come off.
“He said ‘why did you say they should sell me?’.
“I said ‘ooh, fair enough!’ I thought ‘I’m not having you putting me on the back foot’ so I went straight back and said ‘well, what else can they do?!’
“He wasn’t too happy that I’d said that, but my point was that a player of his quality, you either play or you go. If I was him, I wouldn’t want to be on the bench, and from Klopp’s point of view there is nobody else on the bench he could get money for, if he needed say £20m or £25m.”
Sturridge endured another difficult season for Liverpool, but ended it in promising fashion – starting consecutive games and helping us confirm a top four finish.
If it were not for his flourish towards the end of the campaign, most would agree with Carra that he has to leave, but his talent is such that it would be hard for Liverpool to admit defeat on a player who’s still only 27.
It’s not like we need the cash, but if Sturridge wants to play guaranteed first-team football, perhaps he should look elsewhere – although saying goodbye would be very tough!