Southampton boss Mark Hughes is confident new signing Danny Ings can stay fit in his time at St Mary’s.
Joining the Saints on a loan initially, (with the deal becoming permanent in Jul 2019) the 26-year-old Ings will be looking to play regular football for the first time since the 2014-15 season when he was with Burnley.
The striker tore his anterior cruciate ligament in October 2015, in what was Jürgen Klopp’s first training session with the Reds. A further knee injury in November 2016 meant Ings had a severely limited Liverpool career, with 25 appearances in three seasons indicative of the Bournemouth-native’s struggles staying fit.
Hughes is remaining positive, however.
According to the Guardian, the Welshman said:
He’s proved his fitness, it’s not as if we have to get him rehabbed, he’s a fit young man – he’s had the injury in his younger years. So, you always get a better response and outcome when that happens. We don’t have any worries about his injury.
He ended strongly at the end of last season. He’s fit, he’s well, and he’s ready to go. He’s at a point in his career where he wants to start making an impression again.
He came back strongly for Liverpool at the end of last year and showed his worth to them. You’ll note Jürgen’s comments about him, as a character and as a guy. That was an important factor in being able to bring him here as well because we want to enhance the dressing room and the personnel, so that’s an added bonus for us.
Goals were hard to come by for Southampton in the 2017-18 campaign, as the club flirted with relegation to the Championship.
Charlie Austin was one of the more reliable goal threats on the south coast, but he himself struggled for fitness throughout the season.
