Liverpool legend Phil Thompson wants Jurgen Klopp to bring in a replacement for injured Sturridge

Daniel Sturridge scored a brace against Aston Villa earlier this season.

Liverpool legend Phil Thompson has urged club manager Jurgen Klopp to bring in a replacement for striker Daniel Sturridge as his struggle against injuries continues at Anfield, according to Sky Sports. Sturridge is yet to feature under the new manager after picking up a knee injury before the match against Tottenham Hotspur on October 17.

The England international was signed in 2013 from Chelsea by former club manager Brendan Rodgers. Sturridge made a remarkable start to his career at Anfield and was unstoppable alongside former teammate Luis Suarez, who both helped the Merseyside club come close to winning the Premier League title in 2013/14 season.

The 26-year-old has featured for Liverpool this season with two classy finishes in the 3-2 win over Aston Villa last month. However, since the start of the last term, Sturridge is becoming a major concern for Liverpool and this is his sixth injury in two seasons.

The performance was a flash of what the club might be capable of with him in the side, but that isn’t the case at the moment. Liverpool boss Klopp confirmed the frontman was rested in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw to Tottenham and Europa League fixture against Rubin Kazan.

Due to Sturridge’s frequent absence, former English footballer Thompson has advised Klopp to bring a replacement for the striker, insisting that the Reds may need to consider an upgrade to the side’s attacking options with only Divock Origi and Christian Benteke available at the manager’s disposal, while Mario Balotelli is currently out on season loan with AC Milan and Danny injuries out with injury for the rest of the season,

“He is what we need and what's been missing." Thompson said in an interview.

"But if he's not playing, and every week he's missing far more games, then I think there's going to be question marks over him. With these owners who work on the money ball situation, how many minutes you are on the pitch, how much you're getting paid… is somebody out there better? And that's where it comes."

"If he's nearly ready and got a bit of swelling he's got to play in the game because you can see how much he's missed, but the longer he keeps missing games under Brendan, then if he's missing a lot of game under Jurgen, Dan's going to be thinking 'where do we go?'”

"They're going to have to maybe look for an upgrade on Daniel Sturridge come January, or after that, because you cannot keep going like this without having a person of his quality not on the pitch."