Jamie Carragher has revealed that Daniel Sturridge pulled him up during Liverpool's recent tour to Australia over previous comments regarding the striker's future.
Retired defender Carragher admitted earlier this year that he would be "surprised" to see the England international remain at Anfield beyond the summer due to his lack of playing time.
Sturridge was keen to ask the now-pundit to elaborate on his thoughts when linking up for the Reds in their post-season friendly win over Sydney FC, and Carragher was more than happy to do so.
"I've got a funny story about that, and I didn't mind it actually – I was happy about it," he told the Liverpool Echo. "As soon as I got on the plane, I could see Sturridge wasn't his normal self with me.
"And he pulled me in Australia after the game, or at half time when we'd come off. He said, 'why did you say they should sell me?'. I said, 'oh, fair enough!'. I went straight back and said, 'well, what else can they do?'!
"He wasn't too happy that I'd said that, but my point was that a player of his quality, you either play or you go. If I was him, I wouldn't want to be on the bench, and from [Jurgen] Klopp's point of view there is nobody else on the bench he could get money for, if he needed say £20m or £25m."
Newcastle United and West Ham United have both been linked with Sturridge, who scored seven goals in 27 outings for Liverpool during the 2016-17 season.
Daniel Lewis
