According to the Northern Echo, Rafa Benitez has turned down the chance to sign Daniel Sturridge for £15m, with the striker looking likely to move to Turkey instead.
With the striker clearly not in Jurgen Klopp’s plans and someone we looked at earlier in the year, the Echo claim that his agents have been in touch to see if Benitez would be interested in signing him this summer – but it seems the Spaniard has said no, and rightly so.
Here’s a snippet from Scott Wilson’s piece on the former England international:
“Liverpool have instructed agents to contact the St James’ Park hierarchy to see if they remain interested in the England international.
“However, Newcastle’s recruitment team have turned down the opportunity to hold discussions with Sturridge and his representatives, with Liverpool hoping to receive £15m for the 28-year-old.
“There is still unhappiness at Sturridge’s decision to snub Newcastle in January, with the striker rejecting the Magpies in order to join West Brom.
“There is also concern at the forward’s injury record, which saw him restricted to just two Premier League starts during his time at the Hawthorns.”
The 28-year-old striker was close to joining the club back in January, with it being announced at one point that he was all set to travel to Tyneside for a medical ahead of a loan move.
As we all know, he looked close to a loan move to NUFC back in January but changed his mind at the 11th hour to join Alan Pardew’s West Brom – a move that didn’t go to plan, with him starting just once and spending most of his time in the Midlands on the sidelines.
That sums him up really and will be the exact reason why Rafa will have turned down the chance to sign him. If he didn’t have injury issues he could be an absolute snip at £15m, but constant concerns over his ability to stay fit makes it just too much of a risk.
Not only that, the fact he turned us down for West Brom late in the day is clearly something that hasn’t been forgotten by Benitez.
He turned us down in January and it looks like Rafa’s turned him down now. What goes around comes back around Daniel.
