Former England striker Daniel Sturridge will be given time to build his fitness before making his first A-League start, following a brief appearance for Perth Glory from the bench at the weekend, club coach Richard Garcia said.
Sturridge’s signing was greeted with significant fanfare by Australia’s football community in October, but the 32-year-old was only introduced in the 85th minute of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Adelaide United in Perth’s opening game of the season.
“I’m not going to take too much from that,” said Garcia of Sturridge’s performance after he replaced Andy Keogh late in the game at a sold-out Perth Oval.
“What I’ve seen in training has been good and it’s about him now building up and finding his feet and getting the fitness he needs to play games.”
Prior to Saturday, the ex-Liverpool and Chelsea forward had not played a competitive game in the 21 months since his contract with Turkey’s Trabzonspor was cancelled.
Sturridge has only recently started training with his new team mates after undergoing two weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine following his arrival in Australia.
“We need to get him back into full training as quickly as possible,” said Garcia.
“That’s probably the first step, to make sure he can handle the load, make sure we manage that load so that he can get minutes off the bench before he plays a full game.”
Garcia stressed he was prepared to be patient with a player who has struggled with injuries throughout his career.
“(It takes) however long it takes to get him there,” he said.
“It’s about the group. He’s one of the group and he’ll play his part and he can have a fantastic impact off the bench until he is ready.”
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Richard Pullin)
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