Napoli look to Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge for summer transfer

Napoli will definitely need to look for more depth up front this summer, especially if they wind up selling Gonzalo Higuain as has been rumored off and on all season. Various names have been floated that the partenopei could pursue, but one potentially fascinating name has emerged in the last day: Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge.

Liverpool are seemingly far from set on keeping Sturridge at the end of the season, with his fit in Jurgen Klopp's system not seeming to be quite as perfect as they would hope for. Something like €26 million would apparently be enough to pry him away from Anfield, a price that would be more than worth the cost if Napoli would be able to get Sturridge at his best.

There's plenty of reason to be skeptical about such a deal, however. The biggest of them is that Sturridge hasn't been at his best in almost two years thanks to a long series of injuries that have set back the 26 year old's career significantly, and he was already injury-prone even before he started suffering one setback after another. He's impressed of late since his most recent return to health, but who knows how long that will last.

Let's see what fellow SB Nation blog The Liverpool Offside has to say.

It would be a smart move -- fitness permitting -- for Napoli, but it's probably not a sensible one for Liverpool. After all, selling your best striker is never too sharp unless his name is Fernando Torres. Sorry Nando! Seriously, we never saw that coming.

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Unless Jürgen Klopp doesn't trust Sturridge or there are shady happenings that nobody is aware of, Sturridge will almost certainly stick around. Liverpool should be getting the best years of a 26-year-old striker player with the experience, excellence, and exuberance needed to thrive.

To be honest, it's hard to argue with them, and not just because they're colleagues and friends. Sturridge makes too much sense as an option for Liverpool to keep, either to be "the guy" up top, or as a top-notch second choice striker to help them deal with the hectic match schedule English teams deal with.

Even if Liverpool do sign Higuain -- and they're one of the several teams still being linked to him -- it's unlikely that we see Sturridge join Napoli, even without considering that few English players go abroad and even fewer of them succeed. It's a fun rumor to think about, though, not least to imagine this celebration in a blue shirt.