Having emerged unscathed after a 61-minute appearance at Upton Park, Sturridge is in contention to play on Sunday afternoon as Liverpool visit Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Klopp said: “Of course, he’s not 100 per cent. Who could be after this injury? But he is in a good way and that’s a good thing. It would be really silly if we always make a shadow on the present by thinking about the past.
“It’s really normal that everybody is asking about Daniel. He is one of the most talented players I have ever seen, for sure. And he was unavailable, so everybody was waiting. If nobody was waiting, then he wouldn’t have quality. That’s how it is.
“Football looks so easy when he plays. Nobody had a doubt about this for one second. That’s good for us. The next game is against Aston Villa and we will see how we can manage him.”
There is little doubt that Sturridge’s club have missed him. So too have England. A fully fit Sturridge would be a certainty for Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad, by Klopp is wary of looking that far ahead. “It’s not my decision about England,” the Liverpool manager said.
“In the end, I hope that Roy is in a position to make this decision. That’s the most important thing, because that will mean Daniel is fit, he is playing for us and Roy has to decide whether he can take him.”
A fully fit Sturridge would lessen the need for Klopp to buy a striker next summer, when Liverpool may once again face the challenge of trying to attract players without being able to offer Champions League football. The manager, though, was happy to sign up in such circumstances in October, and is insistent that it should be no different for his transfer targets.
“If a player only wants to come to us to play in the Champions League, such short-term ideas are always silly,” Klopp said. “I don’t like this. I don’t like it when players say: ‘Ah, but you’re not in the Champions League’. We want to get you because we want to play in the Champions League. If you don’t want to help us, and want to jump on a running train, then go somewhere else.”
- Telegraph