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Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association for an alleged breach of their betting rules in January of this year.

What's the word?

BBC Football report that it is said that he breached one rule relating to betting on football at the beginning of 2018, which covers providing information relating to football which has been "obtained by virtue of his position" and "is not publicly available".

BBC Football report that a Liverpool spokesman says the 29-year-old has stated that he has never bet on football and he now has until November 20 to respond to the charge.

In the past, Joey Barton was banned for 18 months having been found guilty of placing more than 1,260 bets during a 10-year period, while Martin Demichelis was fined £22,000 in May 2016 for betting on 29 matches.

While it is unclear what Sturridge's punishment would be if he is found to have breached the rules, Klopp will surely already be thinking about that he will do if the England international receives a length ban.

What would the Reds boss do?

Well, if Sturridge is ruled out for any significant amount of time then it would surely mean that Klopp wouldn't be looking to offload one of Dominic Solanke or Divock Origi – or potentially both – during the January transfer window, which in the case of the former especially reportedly looks to be on the cards right now.

The latter in particular faces a real fight to save his Liverpool career given how he has been ostracised by Klopp so far this term, but his 29-year-old teammate being ruled out could give him the lifeline he has been desperate for – to not only battle for his future on Merseyside but even to secure a decent move away if he is still found to be surplus to requirements.

Otherwise, the German manager could look to delve into the transfer market for a short-term striker addition, with that likely to be a more cost-effective measure than signing a player who would likely only be back-up to Roberto Firmino.

Whatever happens to Sturridge, this is not what he needed when he was beginning to make an impact with just months remaining on his contract with the Reds.