Daniel Sturridge has indicated he would prefer a loan move to Sevilla this month

Liverpool would prefer to sell permanently, but can't shift him for £30m price tag

The England international has not played for Liverpool since December 6

Spanish side Sevilla are willing to pay all his wages for the rest of the season

Daniel Sturridge has indicated he would prefer a loan move to Sevilla as he looks to kick-start his career in the January window.

The England international has not played any football since a late substitute appearance in the 7-0 thrashing of Spartak Moscow on December 6 and he has not travelled with Liverpool’s squad for Monday night’s Premier League game in Swansea.

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He has been the subject of enquiries from Inter Milan and Sevilla but Liverpool showed no inclination last week to agree to a request from the La Liga side, who want to take Sturridge for the rest of the campaign and pay all his wages.

Daniel Sturridge wants to move to Sevilla on loan but Liverpool would prefer to sell him

Liverpool, ideally, would want to do a straight transfer this window but Sturridge, who has 18 months remaining on his contract, hopes he will be allowed to move before the deadline in order to stand a chance of playing his way into contention for England’s World Cup squad.

Sturridge believes his best opportunity to do that would come in Spain and Sevilla, who made enquiries about the 28-year-old last summer, are anxious to bring him in as they have only scored 26 goals in 20 La Liga matches so far this season.

Goals, in contrast, have not been a problem for Liverpool so far and they return action in South Wales with Klopp singing the praises of Sadio Mane, who has shown since the turn of the year that he is close to recapturing his best form.

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Sturridge is open to leaving Liverpool in January to prove his fitness ahead of the World Cup

Mane went through a difficult spell before Christmas when his performances dipped and he looked to be struggling to overcome the effects of a hamstring problem; his campaign had started on the wrong footing, too, when he was sent-off in a 5-0 defeat at Manchester City.

Two spectacular goals against City and Burnley, though, have shown that the Senegal international is on his way back and Klopp has explained how he spoke at length to Mane to explain what he needed to do to rediscover his rhythm.

‘We had talks and I like to be honest,’ said Klopp. ‘I don’t want to say Sadio was brilliant when he wasn’t. Everyone could see that he struggled a bit. You cannot play football without mistakes. he is in a good moment and I am really happy about that because it helps.

Sturridge has only made 14 appearances for Liverpool this season, scoring three times

But overall in his Liverpool career, Sturridge has scored 63 times in 133 matches

‘At Burnley he scored a fantastic goal. But it was not a world class game of Sadio. Since then he is now really back. He works hard, he protects the ball, no risky dribbling and he is a world class player. The two goals he scored? Well, I don’t know a lot of players who could have scored these goals.’

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If Mane was excellent in the thumping success against City, so was Emre Can. His future at the club remains a topic of speculation, with the Germany international refusing to sign a new contract so far but insisting he has not agreed terms with anyone else.

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‘He is here in the moment and that is the most important thing,’ said Klopp. ‘All we can do is me as a manager, the players, the club and we try to do that with the players we want to keep. He was outstanding against Manchester City. We will see what happens.

‘There are other places with football clubs. We cannot ignore that. Let me say it like this. We have to make it difficult for them to leave here. In this era, maybe they are not all one-team players.’