Knocking on Daniel’s door
Sturridge will listen to offers from Hammers
LONDON: Daniel Sturridge will listen to offers from West Ham this summer.
The Liverpool striker has fallen down the pecking order at Anfield and has not started an English Premier League game since the start of November.
He has told pals the Hammers could be an option come the end of the season when Juergen Klopp reshapes his squad.
Slaven Bilic’s side could offer regular first- team football and a platform for Sturridge, 27, to be England’s No. 1 forward like he was under Roy Hodgson.
Klopp is planning on a busy summer in the transfer market. Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand is an ambitious target for the Kop boss, who is ready to compete with big clubs for the Three Lions international.
Klopp said: “Liverpool is a really interesting project for players.
“It’s a young team, it’s a fantastic club, and a good situation where we really can see the progress.
“So I’d say together with Tottenham (Hotspur), the average age of the team is such there’s still a lot to come.
“We feel in a good way and if a player wants to be part, then it is easier to make this decision this year than last year.
“The talks we’ve had so far are very positive.”
Klopp, meanwhile, could miss out on his top target Julian Brandt – because the German winger does not want to be on the bench.
Klopp has £25mil (RM141mil) ready for the Bayer Leverkusen star, his main priority in the summer window. Insiders say the relationship between the German chief and his fellow countryman is strong as he closes in on a major deal.
But Brandt, 20, is unsure that he will get into the Liverpool team on a regular basis and may stay at Leverkusen.
He has turned down moves to England in the past because he wants regular football.
Chelsea and Manchester City were snubbed in raids for Brandt, who has five senior caps, when he was at Wolfsburg and when he first went to Leverkusen.
A source close to Brandt said: “Julian will only move if he is in the side. He is not big-headed, he just does not want to be a squad man. It is no good for his career.”
Brandt, who began his career at Leverkusen, has represented Germany from the Under-15 side through to the first team, as well as being in their Olympic squad in 2016.
So far this season the influential midfielder has featured 36 times for Leverkusen and three times for Germany.