Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge still has 'important' role to play at Anfield, says Jurgen Klopp

Daniel Sturridge remains an important player for Liverpool and the club had no intention of selling the 28-year-old in the summer, according to Jürgen Klopp.

Sturridge held talks with Klopp at the end of last season and stayed despite being linked with a move away from Anfield, but Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané have since established themselves as Klopp's first-choice front three.

The England international has the chance to stake his claim for a regular place this weekend when Liverpool travel to Leicester City without Mané, who will serve the final instalment of his three-game suspension for a red card in the defeat at Manchester City.

With Liverpool struggling to convert their chances in recent weeks, it has been suggested that an out-and-out striker like Sturridge could play an important part in solving their problems in front goal. Klopp, however, claims Sturridge is just as integral to his plans as he has ever been.

“He is important, not ‘could be’,” he insisted on Thursday. “In the end, I have 11 players and stuff like this. We are fine.

“We did [talk at the end of last season] and it was good. It was not a talk of him saying ‘when can I go?’ or ‘where can I go?’ Not that talk, but about what we planned for this season."

​Sturridge has only started twice for Liverpool this season and missed Tuesday’s EFL Cup elimination at the hands of Leicester, but Klopp is ready to call on him for Liverpool’s return to the King Power Stadium this weekend.

“We decided not to take him to Leicester [on Tuesday], which was again a kind of responsible decision. We would have taken him, but he would not have started.

“Maybe he would have had 10 minutes, 30 minutes or extra-time. But then we decided it was better to stay here and train twice because he can get better physically.”