AUDIO: Klopp laughs off “Sturridge wants to leave” questions
Stories overnight suggest that Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge is unhappy at Liverpool due to the way people have been speaking about him in relation to his various injury problems, with the reports also suggesting that he is thinking of leaving this summer.
Where those stories have come from remains a mystery, but despite the complete lack of any direct quotes it seems unlikely that more than one outlet would run with the story without first having been given the information by someone close to the situation. As we saw last year before Raheem Sterling left, direct quotes are not always a requirement for a true story, although of course Raheem did supply quite a few quotes in the end when he saw the story wasn’t quite being put forward the way he would have liked.
The lack of those quotes from Sturridge did come in handy today for Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp however. Asked about the stories at his pre-Sunderland press conference, he literally laughed them off.
Reporter: “Reports today suggesting that Daniel Sturridge is considering quitting the club today, a suggestion that he’s fed up of the perception that he maybe lacks hunger – have you spoken to him? What’s your response to that and how do you view his long term future?”
Klopp: “Sorry, can you please start again, Daniel Sturridge said?”
Reporter: “No, he’s not said, but there’s a suggestion in various reports that…”
Klopp: “Who’s suggested?”
Reporter: “Well, that’s not for me to (inaudible).”
Klopp: “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, oooh!”
When the boss had stopped laughing he said: “So. If somebody, maybe I can say it in the camera, if somebody wants to ask me about something he has heard about ask me, but not ‘suggestions’. I am not interested in this. Absolutely nothing.”
Whilst it was refreshing to see Klopp bat the questions away so effectively in public, privately he will need to find out the truth of those ‘suggestions’ and how they found their way into the media.
If this is an early attempt by Sturridge to engineer a move away from Anfield it is disappointing to say the least.