The club’s head of development says that the striker is making good progress as he recovers from an ankle injury and is the only player not in pre-season training for the Reds

Liverpool expect striker Daniel Sturridge to be fit in time for the start of the new season.

The 23-year-old was stretchered off with an ankle injury during England’s 1-1 friendly draw with Republic of Ireland at Wembley in May.

The Reds are now back in pre-season training and, while Sturridge is still sidelined, the club’s head of performance, Glen Driscoll, is happy with his progress.

“Daniel Sturridge is the only player in the squad not training at the moment but he’s progressing really well and he’s still on target to make the start of the season,” he told the club’s official website.

“Steven Gerrard is still being modified but he’s about to enter all out training.”

Driscoll was also upbeat on the health of the other members of the squad who are returning to training after injury.

“Martin Kelly is back in full training and doing really well,” he added. “He has absolutely no problems.

“Raheem Sterling has actually come back a little bit earlier, like Martin, to do some extra conditioning so they hit the ground running. He looks extremely sharp.

“Joe Allen also did some extra work and is raring to go now.”

Liverpool kick off their 2013-14 campaign at Anfield against Stoke City on August 17.