Daniel Sturridge must change his attitude to save his Liverpool career, insists Anfield legend Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness has urged Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge to improve his attitude or risk ruining his last chance at a top club.

Once the Reds’ main man up front, Sturridge’s role at the club is now unclear after steadily falling down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp.

The 27-year-old made 20 Premier League appearances last season, but only seven of those were starts, and he scored just three league goals as he continued to struggle with fitness.

Liverpool legend Souness joined talkSPORT on Wednesday to talk about the club’s transfer activity and while he expressed his disappointment at the ‘lack of action’ on Merseyside this summer, he insists they need not look for another striker if Sturridge gets his act together.

The former Reds star and manager said the England international is, when fit, one of the Premier League’s top talents but MUST improve his attitude to have any future at the club.

“If Daniel Sturridge didn’t have these issues of keeping fit, he’d be the first name on the team sheet,” Souness told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast.

“I think he’s got amazing qualities, but he just can’t get himself fit.

“I saw a game towards the end of the season and the camera panned on Sturridge and it showed him warming up, and it was pathetic. He wasn’t stretching properly, he was just going through the motions.

“If that’s him preparing for a game, if he’s like that every day in training, you’ve got to get that right first of all. That’s the first thing I’d look at - his training.

“You can get away with it in other positions, but not as a striker, when you’ve got to be bang at it and be explosive from the very first minute - something is going to go.

“I’m watching this kid warm up and I’m thinking, that just might be his problem.

“Try and get that right first, warm up properly, train properly, because the boy has exceptional talent and there are very few people out there with that kind of ability.

“Because where does he go after this? He’s been at big clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea before.

“If you’re thinking about him, you could watch him on any given day and think ‘wow, what a player’. But look at his stats - he doesn’t play enough games.”