West Ham United and Newcastle United may have received a welcome boost in their pursuit of Liverpool outcast Daniel Sturridge.
Liverpool outcat Daniel Sturridge and Jurgen Klopp
Last month bookmakers downgraded the Hammers from favourites to sign Sturridge this summer while Newcastle’s march to promotion from the Championship saw them enter the betting, as previously reported by HITC.
Slaven Bilic has been credited with a longstanding interest in the former Chelsea striker, who is on the periphery at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp.
With Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho once again spending much of the season on the sidelines through injury, Bilic has often been left short of options after a failed summer of transfer business.
Injuries have hampered Sturridge in recent seasons too but West Ham were believed to be keen on signing the striker as recently as January, as reported by the likes of The Sun.
The Mirror reported last month that Sturridge’s Liverpool career was now hanging by a thread with Klopp plotting a summer shake-up.
With the Magpies looking increasingly likely to bounce back to the big time at the first time of asking under Rafa Benitez, they too will be looking for quality firepower and were rated at 6/1 to sign Sturridge in the summer.
There was encouraging news for both Newcastle and the Hammers when Liverpool legend Phil Thompson delivered his verdict on Sturridge’s future at Anfield in an interview with Sky Sports.
Quality but injury prone
“I don’t think he will be at Liverpool and I think that [is right decision] for both parties, for Daniel and for Liverpool,” Thompson told Sky Sports.
“It’s hard to build a team around Daniel because you wait so long.
“Even he would realise that. If you can’t get him on the pitch enough it’s difficult for the manager to decide how you are going to shape your team up.
Liverpool legend Phil Thompson
“When he plays he is a threat to anybody, that’s the shame of this. It’s extremely difficult, he can’t help it being injured.”
Whether West Ham could afford to risk signing yet another injury-prone striker remains to be seen but one thing is for sure they need much more quality.
Newcastle will be boosted by the Premier League TV money revenue again and could look to make a statement.
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