West Brom new boy Daniel Sturridge ready to prove Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher wrong

The Baggies pulled off a major coup signing the England international on loan until the end of the season, and boss Alan Pardew is confident the lethal finisher will help score the goals to keep his team up.

Jurgen Klopp’s decision to keep Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke instead of Sturridge raised eyebrows in places, with Gary Neville branding it ‘crazy’.

But Carragher, who played with Sturridge at Liverpool for six months, reckons his former team-mate is no longer at his peak, despite being just 28 years old.

“I don’t think it’s a problem letting Sturridge go,” said Carragher. “He was falling down the pecking order.

“Are Solanke and Ings good enough? No. Liverpool are short there, but that’s not because of Sturridge.

“We keep looking at Sturridge and we always go back to the season when Liverpool nearly won the league.

“That’s not the Sturridge of today. West Brom are bottom of the league, and that’s where he’s ended up.”

Sturridge has had a run-in with Carragher before, and pulled him to one side during Liverpool’s trip to Australia in the summer to ask why the former defender urged the Reds to sell him.

Both Sturridge’s camp and Pardew are furious at this latest swipe from the Liverpool legend, and the striker is now determined to prove him wrong this season.

Neville, however, said Liverpool’s decision to let Sturridge go was a ‘massive risk’.

"People are saying ‘Sturridge isn’t playing anymore, it’s not a big loss’,” he said.

“[What if] Firmino gets injured for two months? Liverpool are in the Champions League and are trying to get into the top four. Danny Ings and Solanke [are the only alternatives].

“Were they wise to let him go? It just seemed a crazy one for me and a massive risk.”