Exclusive – Sicknote Daniel Sturridge is a ‘luxury Liverpool can’t afford’, claims Reds legend

Former Liverpool midfielder and regular talkSPORT presenter Dietmar Hamann believes Daniel Sturridge is a ‘luxury they can’t afford’.

Sturridge picked up yet another injury following the defeat to Newcastle at the weekend, just as he returned from knee and foot problems that had prevented him from playing for Jurgen Klopp since the German’s appointment in October.

It’s the latest in a long line of setbacks for Sturridge stretching back to September 2014, and Hamann now feels the club should cut their losses on the unreliable England striker.

“You can’t rely on him,” Hamann told the Colin Murray show.

“The club needs to make a decision now about whether you can have a player, who is one of your top earners, who only plays half the games at best.

“He is a luxury Liverpool cannot afford. They’ve got to make a call, because he’s not going to go from playing 50 per cent of games a year to 90-100 per cent. It isn’t going to happen.

“Are they good enough and wealthy enough as a club? I don’t think Liverpool, in the current state they are in, can afford him.”

Sturridge has faced criticism for his psychological temperament from Reds legends, including David Fairclough, and Hamann, who played with the 26-year-old at Manchester City, suggests it could be an inherent problem.

He added: “I don’t need to know how often he’s been injured. He has history.

“He was the same when we were at City.”