Danny Ings comes under the Liverpool radar with Sturridge out

With a striker code red in place at Liverpool, the latest whispers from Merseyside suggest that the exploits of 21-year-old Burnley striker, Danny Ings, have led Brendan Rodgers to size up a move for the Clarets’ top scorer of this season.

After bagging 15 goals in only 21 Burnley games, Ings has rightly grabbed the headlines for the Clarets in recent months.

And at such a tender age it would appear that Ings has a well-lit future ahead of him whatever happens, but he’d probably admit a January move to Liverpool had not entered his thinking ahead of this season at Turfmoor.

Nevertheless, given the misfortune to have befell Daniel Sturridge at Anfield – where an ankle injury will now keep the Reds’ joint Premier League top-scorer sidelined for eight weeks – the need for attacking reinforcements is pivitol to Liverpool’s seasonal ambitions.

Without Sturridge for such a critical period of their campaign over Chritmas, Liverpool’s 6/5-rated chances of breaking back into the top four are already damaged, but should they lose Luis Suarez in January, then the code red would rapdily make the transition to full-blown disaster.

Rumours linking summer-wantaway Suarez with a move away from Anfield are also gathering pace again, leaving Rodgers no choice than to widen the net.

The fact that Ings has shown such prolificacy for Burnley in the early part of the season means that net has been unexpectedly draped upon his young shoulders, despite not many footie fans outside of Turfmoor knowing the Winchester-born striker’s name before this campaign.

The scoring stats speak for themselves, though, and given Rodgers’ willingness to place his faith in youth, Ings’ profile actually fits the Northern Irishman’s long-term as well as short-term plans.

Burnley, however, are unlikely to let their star man leave without a substantial amount of money changing hands.

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