Where Does Returning Danny Ings Fit in Under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool?

Just over five months ago, Liverpool were made to pay Burnley an initial fee of £6.5 million for striker Danny Ings, with an independent tribunal also ruling a potential £1.5 million in add-ons—but since that day, the 24-year-old has made just two senior appearances for the Reds, highlighting a dilemma on Merseyside.

As reported by the Press Association (h/t This is Anfield) in April, Ings’ move from Turf Moor to Anfield on the expiry of his contract with the Clarets saw him set “a new record for [an initial] fee ordered by a tribunal.”

“The figure eclipses the £3.5 million sum Chelsea had to pay Manchester City in 2009 for forward Daniel Sturridge,” the report continues, and though the financial landscape of the Premier League has changed drastically since Sturridge left for Stamford Bridge, it still serves to magnify the significance of Ings’ switch.

While Liverpool owners John W. Henry and Tom Werner reached for their joint chequebook, however, Ings remained on the treatment table, recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in October, days after Jurgen Klopp’s arrival as manager.

That injury, the result of a freak accident under Klopp’s watch at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground, set in motion a chain of events that leaves Ings way down the pecking order in the German’s attacking ranks.  In the meantime, the Reds have scored 16 goals in six Premier League games in 2016/17, sitting in fourth.

But with JOE.co.uk’s Tony Barrett revealing at the beginning of September that the Reds had been “empowered to reject approaches that valued [Ings] at £20 million,” Klopp clearly has a plan for his hard-working No. 28.

So where does the returning England international fit in under Klopp, and when can he expect to be given the chance to shine in a Liverpool shirt?

“I think over the next few years he’s going to improve into a top-class striker,” Brendan Rodgers told reporters last September, hailing the progress the player had made in his first months as a Liverpool player.

The Ulsterman moved quickly to sign Ings from Burnley, sealing a deal with the Clarets at the beginning of June. The striker officially joined Liverpool a month later, with his strong form for the newly promoted side in 2014/15 fuelling Rodgers’ urgency.

In his first season in the Premier League, Ings scored 11 goals and laid on another four in 37 appearances, averaging a goal contribution every 208 minutes.  In a side battling relegation, this was hugely impressive.

This included a run of five goals and one assist in six games on the turn of the year, with Ings netting against Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United.

Such was the mark Ings made on the English top flight that Tottenham Hotspur bid £12 million in an attempt to derail Liverpool’s pursuit at the end of 2014/15, with Sky Sports reporting Mauricio Pochettino’s interest.

But Ings ended up on Merseyside and started positively, scoring three goals in nine appearances, averaging a strike every 179 minutes, including the final goal of Rodgers’ reign in October’s 1-1 draw away to Everton—his second career goal against the Toffees, though he …

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