Danny Ings has admitted there remains an element of 'what if' regarding his time at Liverpool.
Signed by Brendan Rodgers during the summer of 2015, Ings arrived at Anfield on the back of a successful four year spell with Burnley. The forward was handed a Premier League debut for the Reds in a home defeat to West Ham United, his current employers, and began to make an impression after goals against Norwich City and Everton in the following weeks.
Disaster struck for the striker during Jurgen Klopp's opening training session as manager, however, suffering an ACL injury that would keep him sidelined until the final game of the 2015/16 season. Making his full return to action in October 2016, Ings sustained another long-term injury which would keep him out for nine months.
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Liverpool's attacking options had been significantly bolstered by the time the 30-year-old bounced back from his second lay-off and he was sold to Southampton in 2019, having impressed on loan for the Saints the previous year.
Despite still being a Premier League player, Ings has conceded his time with the Reds could well have gone differently had he not been as unfortunate. "In Jurgen's first training session, for me to get injured, it's one of those things," he told Sky Sports.
"You hear plenty of these stories all around the world with players. In terms of 'what if', you just don't know. Could I have stayed fit and played under him a lot more? You just don't know.
"When I went there [to Liverpool], the squad was very big at the time: there were a lot of strikers. I wasn't expecting to play because I was still pretty young, but to go there and play as much as I did at the start kind of surprised myself. To then go and make my England debut was huge for me and I knew all it would do is give me confidence and help me to mature as a player."
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