He hit the ground running when arriving at Liverpool from Burnley last year, scoring three goals in five games at the start of the season before misfortune struck. In his first training session under new manager Jurgen Klopp, Ings picked up a knee injury, ruling him out of all but the last game of the season.
This season he has been unable to earn a place in the first team squad, despite showing glimpses of his goalscoring ability in pre-season.
“He was injured since October last year and he needed time," Klopp sad back in August. "That’s how it is."
“Now he’s getting better and better. He knows himself that in the first two or three weeks of pre-season, even though he scored in the games it was too intense for him.
“You couldn’t change it. You couldn’t say ‘come on, today, three steps and then tomorrow, four.’ You have to adapt to the next level.
“In those first three or four weeks we had to rest him a few times. It wasn’t a real reaction of the knee but it was about feeling comfortable.
“Everyone was afraid that something could happen if his muscles were too tired. But now he’s in a really good way.”
Despite that, the manager has sent Ings to play with the Under-23’s and he’s been scoring for fun there too, so the question must be asked ‘why isn’t he getting into the first team squad?’.
The current set up of Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané is working well and Divock Origi is an ideal substitute to shake things up if needed, but Ings must surely be wondering what more he needs to do to get into that squad.
Liverpool reportedly turned down a £20m bid for Ings in the summer, so the club are keen to hold onto him but unless he gets first team football then its likely he will want to move on, if not in January then at the end of the season.
Even if we were to secure European football next year it probably won’t be enough to convince him to stay. He wants to be playing week-in week-out, not just given a run-out in European aways when key players are rested, and unless Sturridge gets another long-term injury (which isn’t beyond the realms of possibility) that’s not going to happen at Liverpool, unfortunately.
It would be a shame to lose such a talent, especially when we look back at the quality of some of the strikers we have had in recent seasons, but it would be wrong to hold a player back when, at the age of 23, he has such obvious ability. Let’s hope he gets the chance to prove it again before it is too late!