Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 7y

Daniel Sturridge leaves Liverpool training camp due to illness

Daniel Sturridge will depart Liverpool's warm-weather training camp in Spain due to illness, the club have confirmed.

Sturridge did not participate in Liverpool's first day of training in La Manga, missing the two sessions on Thursday with a virus, and he will now return to Merseyside.

A statement on Liverpool's official website read: "Daniel Sturridge will return home from Liverpool's midseason training camp in La Manga on Friday due to a virus.

"The striker joined his teammates on the trip to Spain earlier this week eager to participate in the daily double sessions, despite feeling unwell.

"However, Sturridge's condition hasn't improved and he will fly back to Merseyside today before resuming training at Melwood as soon as he is well enough."

Sturridge has been enduring a difficult season so far this term, making just nine starts in total and only finding the back of the net on two occasions in the Premier League.

The 27-year-old was an unused substitute in Liverpool's recent 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

Meanwhile, boss Jurgen Klopp says a change of scenery for his players will benefit Liverpool as they prepare for the last few months of the campaign.

Following their elimination from the FA Cup, Liverpool next play on Feb. 27 and Klopp is using the break as an opportunity to put his players through double training sessions in south-east Spain ahead of their final 13 games.

"First of all, you might think it's a bit cold for a 'warm-weather' training camp, but that's a good thing because we didn't want to go somewhere where it's completely different to England in this moment, we only wanted to change the circumstances a little bit," Klopp told the club's official website.

"We want to be focused on the work we do on the pitch especially, and of course we'll use the opportunity to talk about a few things, how you always do in preseason.

"I think there's not a lot of good things to say about having a two-week break in the middle of the season because it means we are not in cup competitions any more, but we have to accept the situation and try to use it.

"So that's what we'll try to do, we have today two sessions, tomorrow one and Saturday a kind of an internal game that's only really for us to see a few things and do a few things, Sunday one session and then we leave.

"But I think you can always talk about things you need to fix, or you can create the situation where you can work on it and that's what we're trying to do here.

"Melwood is a fantastic training ground but we are there for the whole year -- since June, since we were in America, we've been there every day, so to come out and do a few different things I thought made absolute sense. The club gave us the opportunity to do it, and here we are."

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