BBC pundit and former Premier League striker Jon Walters has expressed his concerns over Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.
At the time of Jurgen Klopp’s arrival at the club, Sturridge was higher in the pecking order in the team, due to the departure of his prolific strike partner Luis Suarez the season before.
But it was discovered over time under Klopp that the English forward was not capable of retaining his role in the first team as he dropped down to the bench as an impact player.
Sturridge, in all fairness, has been plagued by injuries over the last three to four years, often missing large parts of the sesson.
After being held back in the latter part of his Liverpool career by injuries and constant fitness blows, there is a valud concern over whether Sturridge is actually fully committed to giving his all or not.
And that is the stance of Jon Walters, who believes the striker might be succumbing to injuries too easily.
“Whether he has that desire to play… He went off to West Brom, didn’t really play, got injured, didn’t really play towards the end of the season,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It’s that question: how much does he want it? And there’s question marks [that have] been asked about Daniel Sturridge over the years.
“It’s all gossip, more than anything, but you hear off players – and we had certain players that played with him and would say ‘he won’t be fit at the weekend’. This is just what I’ve heard. ‘He won’t be playing at the weekend, guarantee it, or he’ll come off’ – and whatever those players said was always right.”