The Premier League season is not yet over but Liverpool have been informed Daniel Sturridge will be sidelined for the start of the next one as he recovers from a hip operation.
The Premier League season is not yet over but Liverpool have been informed Daniel Sturridge will be sidelined for the start of the next one as he recovers from a hip operation.
The striker had surgery in New York on Tuesday and Liverpool are confident it will remedy several underlying issues behind his poor fitness record. However, it will be four months before the 25-year-old can resume full training and with his pre-season effectively beginning in early September, it could be mid-to-late October before Sturridge is available for Brendan Rodgers’ team again.
The 2015-16 Premier League season starts on 8 August, and the medical advice Liverpool have received from New York indicates they will be without the England international for the opening two months of the campaign.
Although the timeframe represents another setback for a striker who has made only seven Premier League starts this season because of thigh, calf and hip problems, Liverpool’s medical department view the operation as a major success.
Their information from Bryan T Kelly, the orthopaedic surgeon who performed the procedure, is that the hip operation identified and addressed an issue that could be linked to the various muscle problems Sturridge has suffered this term. Liverpool are therefore hopeful it will have long-term benefit for a goalscorer whose absences have had a damaging effect on the team.
The extent of Sturridge’s latest lay-off is unlikely to change the Liverpool manager’s transfer plans. Rodgers, who can soon add Memphis Depay to the long list of prime targets his club have missed out on, with PSV Eindhoven having agreed a £25m fee for the winger with Manchester United, has stated he wants to sign a proven goalscorer who can perform “at the top level every week”. Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke could emerge as a possible target at the end of the season.
Sturridge’s status as Liverpool’s leading striker was already in doubt for next season before the timeframe placed on his recovery from the hip surgery, which followed an injury aggravated at Blackburn Rovers on 8 April.
The former Manchester City and Chelsea striker, who signed a new five-year contract worth up to £140,000-a-week in October, damaged a thigh muscle while training with England in September, tore a calf muscle on his return to full training with Liverpool, suffered a second thigh strain in November and then the hip injury.
Liverpool’s forward line is expected to be overhauled this summer regardless of Sturridge’s availability. Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini – who have four Premier League goals between them – could be sold providing they agree to leave Anfield.
The Belgium international Divock Origi will arrive from Lille following a 12-month loan deal stipulated by the French club as part of last summer’s £9.8m transfer, while the Burnley striker Danny Ings remains a target for the Liverpool manager.
A fee for the out-of-contract Ings would be decided by a transfer tribunal unless the clubs reach an agreement. The Manchester City midfielder James Milner and Fiorentina’s goalkeeper Norberto Neto, who are also free agents, feature on Rodgers’ transfer wishlist.
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