Rickie Lambert has been blown away by the performances of Danny Ings since the striker left Liverpool on loan to join Southampton until the end of the season.
Ings, 26, has scored eight goals in 19 appearances across all competitions for the Saints but unfortunately, he has been suffering from a number of injuries that have kept him sidelined for several games.
Since joining Liverpool from Burnley, the one-time England international has only made 25 total appearances for his parent club due to several serious injury issues.
Ex-Liverpool forward Lambert believes that Ings has been quite unlucky with his fitness problems, but he still sees him as a very good centre-forward.
“I knew he was good from his time at Burnley, but was surprised at how good he was when I saw him in training,” Lambert said of Ings, as quoted by the Daily Echo.
“Especially technically and skill wise. Very, very good.
“When he’s been fit he’s done extremely well, he’s caused a real handful to some of the top defenders across the country.
“If he gets fit and stays fit I’ve no doubt Southampton will stay in the league.
“He’s got excellent feet and a really good brain and was a bit unlucky at Liverpool.
“If he didn’t have those injuries he would have done well.
“But with those injuries and the players Liverpool brought in it was inevitable he was going to have to find somewhere else.
“When he joined Southampton I thought it was brilliant for both parties.”
OPINION
Ings’ career stalled massively while he was at Liverpool, but like Lambert says, it was extremely unfortunate and if he wasn’t so injury prone then maybe the striker would have played a lot more regularly. Ings was on the verge of being a regular for England before his injury-hit spell at Anfield, but thankfully for him, he has started to play well again for Southampton. Once he returns to Merseyside in the summer when his loan deal expires, it’s hard to see him breaking into Jurgen Klopp’s first team plans, so it might be a good idea to try and get Southampton to sign him permanently. The Saints could be in the Premier League or the Championship next season, but either way, Ings would be a good signing for him. He loves the south coast club and has done well for them in his outings while on loan. The only issue is that he has not played since February 2 due to a hamstring injury. If he spends much longer on the sidelines then Ralph Hasenhuttl may avoid signing him.
