After spending most of his season on the sidelines, Daniel Sturridge started for Liverpool in their 6-0 rout of strugglers Aston Villa last week. With speculations about the striker and his future up in the air, we take a look at whether the 26-year old is a problem worth having or is it time to sell him.

For a team missing any sort of strength in attack, Liverpool’s 0-6 rout at Aston Villa didn’t come as a surprise, which itself is surprising. It’s not because the game was against the bottom-placed Villa but because Liverpool have struggled in attack even against teams in the bottom half of the table. The reason why such a scoreline didn’t astonish most people was because of the presence of their #15.

When fans saw Daniel Sturridge’s name on the teamsheet, the expectations from Liverpool’s attack immediately rose a few notches. The Englishman marked his first Premier League start since October with the opening goal, and it immediately became obvious how much the Reds have missed him. It’s not just his finishing touch in front of goal that Liverpool desire, although how much they crave it can’t be understated, but it’s the manner in which he links up play in attack.

When Liverpool signed Roberto Firmino, it was hailed as a massive coup simply because the prospect of Coutinho and Firmino starting behind Sturridge meant Liverpool had some serious threat in front of the goal. Sadly, recurring injuries to the 26-year-old striker and later to Coutinho meant the game against Aston Villa was the first time the trio was named in the same XI.

There was a massive debate some weeks back as to whether Liverpool should keep Sturridge in the squad because of his injury rate, and there were reports of the player wanting to quit Anfield in the summer because of how Liverpool were supposedly reacting to his injury issues. Although these claims haven’t been reported by reliable journalists from Merseyside, they were enough to raise questions.

While he has praised Sturridge’s goalscoring, Klopp has been ambiguous about how he feels about Sturridge. Before the West Ham appearance where Sturridge put some excitement and enthusiasm in Liverpool’s attack, the fans seemed to have given up on the Englishman as well. They thought that it is best to get rid of such an injury-prone player and make money on him while the club can. Fans were asking if Daniel Sturridge is a problem worth keeping.

Quite simply, he is.

The England international scored his fifth goal of the season, in just his eighth appearance, which is enough to show you his potency in front of goal. His fitness issues are well-noted, but there can be no question marks surrounding Sturridge’s goalscoring ability. His strike at Villa Park marked his 38th league goal in 61 appearances for Liverpool, an outstanding ratio of 0.623 goals per game, which is only behind other ex-Liverpool forwards Fernando Torres (0.637) and Luis Suarez (0.627), by a very marginal number. Considering football is based on results, it is quite obvious that the Englishman can help Klopp get those wins, and the manager should try and get everything he can from the player.

The 26-year-old offers inspiration in Liverpool’s attack. Defenders back off, his sharpness adds more to the game of the players behind him, and it has been mentioned a countless number of times how good Coutinho and Sturridge’s link-ups are. The Brazilian has been criticised for shooting needlessly in most games. That has also been put down to the fact that he hasn’t had a mobile striker in front of him, with whom he can effectively link up. Coutinho’s game automatically looks incredibly threatening once he has Sturridge ahead of him, and it was put to display against Aston Villa as early as the 16th minute as the Brazilian set up the striker’s opening goal.

Sturridge is arguably the second best striker in the Premier League, when fit, but the problem that arises as far as he’s concerned is how often is he fit? For now, the player has been on the pitch for large chunks of two consecutive games, which is encouraging. Klopp has to manage the player’s games in the remainder of the season as he is Liverpool’s most potent weapon in front of goal and can be a difference in many crucial games. The Reds might be out of the top-four, race but they still have a cup final ahead of them and are still alive in the Europa League.

All in all, Sturridge has to stay fit between now and the end of the season irrespective of where he might find himself in the summer. For him to even want a move away from the club, as those reports suggested, the player will have to be in the right physical position to demand that. Not to mention, the club also need him fit to have a decent bargaining position in the market. However, if Klopp and the rest of the management team can keep the player fit, both physically as well as mentally (something the manager has hinted at in the past), the Reds will have one of the most prolific strikers in the market, at a time where goalscorers are difficult to come by.

* Note: All Images Courtesy: © Facebook - Daniel Sturridge