Brendan Rodgers has said Daniel Sturridge is “as down as I’ve ever seen him” following the news that he will be out of action until the new year with a thigh injury.
"He's a player who doesn't want to be out for this length of time. He wants to play football," said Rodgers, the BBC reports.
"He's just been extremely unfortunate."
Sturridge enjoyed the best spell of his career last season, scoring 25 goals as his partnership with Luis Suarez thrived and saw Liverpool narrowly miss out on the league title.
This season has been an entirely different, and more frustrating one for Sturridge. He has played just three games for his club since the season began, suffering a thigh strain while on international duty in September and then a calf strain in October.
"He's as down as I've ever seen him," Rodgers said.
"Now is the time for him to go away and see what more we can do to get him on the pitch consistently because he is a world class talent and he will only fulfill that if he is playing games. He wants that more than anyone.
"I find him a brilliant young man who is a joy to work with in terms of his outlook of the game. He wants to do the best he can. There is no-one more frustrated than him at this point in time.
"He'll go away in the New Year and hopefully find the answers to help him perform at Liverpool."
Rodgers says the club are going to investigate why Sturridge continues to suffer from this injury, with a view to solving a problem the player has struggled with since his teenage years.
"Daniel has had up to nine injuries on that same thigh over a period time, not just over the last six or seven months.
“This is since he’s been a young player, right through his teenage years and into his early career at Manchester City and right into his mid-twenties now,” Rodgers said.
“We’re going to look across his time as a player and as a young player and find out ways to get him out there playing,” Rodgers added.
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