Brendan Rodgers has expressed how pleased he is about the ongoing progress made by Daniel Sturridge in recent games. The striker, whose season has been massively impacted by injuries, is still trying to rediscover his clinical touch.
“Daniel is not fully fit yet and it is difficult for him because these are not training games for him to get fit.“
“Come the end of this week, Daniel will be on a great run and able to play every game and be able to train.“
“The Europa League was a great chance to get some game time into him, but after five months out and with his history here that was something we had to think of.“
“The last thing we wanted to do was break him. He felt food on Sunday on the back of playing Thursday. He’s very determined to play and when you see a fully fit Daniel, he will be brilliant.“
Philippe Coutinho is on a great run of form for the Reds and has been getting all of the plaudits recently. Coutinho was praised highly by Rodgers, too.
“We wanted to secure him here and reward him for what he’s done.” Rodgers talking about Coutinho’s new contract with the club.
“Certainly there will be a psychological impact on that where he feels this is the place where he’s going to spend the best part of his career and want to be here. That can have a settling effect.“
Rodgers was also asked about the cheap fee Liverpool originally paid for the Brazilian youngster.
“I wasn’t so involved in the discussions with them (Inter Milan, Coutinho’s former side) but I’m led to believe there was a financial implication for them in that they had to move some players and of course in Italy there is not so many young players who get the opportunity.“
“I’d seen him play with Eto’o and Sneijder in big games and he was just the type of player I love. He has a beautiful arrogance on the ball, his touch is magical but he’s effective and efficient with it and playing here at Liverpool, with the dynamics of how we want to work, is perfect for him.“
“How much is he worth now? I wouldn’t know. But you can certainly multiply what we paid (£8.5m) a number of times, though.“
