THE most protracted and public of departures is finally sealed then. The briefing, the bullshit, the leaks, the accusations will be no more and Aidy Ward’s bull in a china shop approach to client representation will become Manchester City’s problem to deal with.
Raheem Sterling will become the most expensive Englishman in football as Liverpool bank 80 per cent of the third highest fee for a player in the club’s 123-year history with QPR trousering the other 20.
Behind the scenes Ian Ayre, Mike Gordon and the rest of the suits may well be high fiving each other for standing firm during the four-month saga and, at an eventual £49million, only deviating slightly (in relative terms) from the fee they publicly shared was acceptable for the 20-year-old.
But amid the champagne quaffing they should also consider that England’s best youngster has left Anfield and the club now has one less game changer within its ranks. The behaviour of player and agent in this affair all too easily clouds the fact that a match-winner has departed from the first 11 for one of the world’s richest clubs for the second season running. Discussions around how the situation was allowed to develop and what could have been done differently should be top of the agenda, not back slapping over money. That money can’t win points for Liverpool where it counts — on the pitch. Sterling could do that. Any potential replacement carries the risk that any signing does.
That said, for all the inevitable “selling club” talk, when Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea or City come calling (and they are the clubs we have been selling our stars to in recent years) and are willing to pay big for a player that desperately wants to leave there are few clubs that can resist. Not Arsenal. Not Manchester United. Not Liverpool.
Arsenal have fostered the feel-good for fans with the big money signings of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in recent years but it’s not long ago that they were selling Nasri, Adebayor, Toure and Clichy to City, Van Persie to United and Fabregas to Barcelona.
And all of that while being able to offer Champions League football.
Manchester United sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City. They had to fight tooth and nail to keep Wayne Rooney from their clutches, too. Clubs sell players. Particularly ones whose attitude doesn’t convince they would carry on regardless if made to stay against their wishes.
Of course underachievement and question marks around the direction of clubs long term facilitates the exits of stars as not only will a player think about his ambition but other clubs will see a chance to pounce, evidenced by the frequent attendance of scouts from Liverpool’s rivals at Anfield last season.
Yet Sterling’s performances for club and country elevated his status and Liverpool could and should have recognised that and acted accordingly at the time. Regardless of his tender years in football terms, Sterling’s salary should have been elevated also. That it was left at the level of an average Premier League footballer while Mario Balotelli trousered £100,000 a week for doing very little clearly laid the foundations for the ugly episodes that followed and a departure that feels premature for both club and player.
At 20 years old Sterling — whose public image has taken a battering — will now shoulder the pressure of being a £49m player who is expected to produce week in week out. There will be little room for error and the failure to convert penalty box sitters is unlikely to be tolerated.
Nevertheless you can understand why he would want to go and why he became disillusioned at Anfield. Football may be a mad world that is like nothing else but players are still human and should be treated as such. In any walk of a life, if a worker felt they were being undervalued – and simultaneously felt colleagues were being unduly rewarded – would that feeling of unfairness grate and ultimately precipitate a move elsewhere? Probably.
Now Sterling has a rumoured £200,000 a week wage awaiting him at City underlining the disparity in valuations of worth that was central to his Anfield exit. Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have both detailed in the past how players were rewarded financially when their progress warranted it and despite all the sighs of relief that have accompanied the end of the saga the fact Sterling didn’t receive similar doesn’t reflect well on the club.
FSG are determined to attempt to rip up some of the rules that resulted in the club haemorrhaging money in the past but this practice seems questionable. A contract worth £100,000 a week was eventually placed on the table by Liverpool but what took so long for the offer to arrive? It seemed that when it did come it was already too late and the player had had his head turned by City. The back and forth of briefings from both sides had already begun.
Now, with Sterling gone, all eyes will be on other aspects of FSG’s often conservative approach. Liverpool need proven goalscorers. Fast. Not potential. Not gambles. Potentially not players with a sell-on value. Just the best available striker that Liverpool can get. Maybe even two with different attributes. The money is there and it is within Liverpool’s power to go out and be decisive in the market. The club needs to be competitive on the pitch and too often last season it wasn’t. Limiting the market with self-imposed rules seems counterproductive, particularly in this circumstance.
Some may celebrate the cash Liverpool have coaxed from City but time will judge that transaction by the success or failure of the player or players that are bought with it. As things stand, it’s seen as “good business”. The £50m deal for Fernando Torres was described as similar. Ditto the £75m for Luis Suarez, especially as he had recently bitten an opponent. Now those fees are framed by their replacements – Andy Carroll and Mario Balotelli. What could have been and how that money could have been spent differently are the prevailing thoughts.
As always, any transfer is a gamble but if there’s one area where there are few secrets it’s the players that can score goals. They cost. They’re known. And Liverpool are unlikely to find a bargain when the football world knows there is a £40m booty in the coffers and a striker-shaped hole in the squad.
We’ve endured one saga this summer. Let’s not make buying a striker another one.
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
I quite disagree…we should celebrate his leaving. The club is not about Sterling, nor is it about the owners…it’s about the fans.
There’s plenty of talent in the junior ranks to sustain LFC…Sterling was lucky to be given the opportunity, others equally talented, not so lucky.
He has surrounded himself with people who are doing his career more harm…and you can hardly blame Liverpool for it.
No matter if they bumped his figures up earlier or later, Sterling has shown it would never have been quite enough.
Somehow, it has crept into his head, his talents are immeasurably higher than those of his teammates.
Who is equally talented that was unfortunate to not be given an opportunity?
The year Sterling started to play consisently, Suso (in my opinion) looked like a better player, was naturally more gifted… The difference in them lies in the treatment they got in the 13-14 season
You need to listen to your own mid-season 13/14 podcasts, where you were all talking about sending Sterling out on loan because his form was so shite.
He’s now gone. City and Ward did their job. Move the fuck on. Firmino is more exciting as he has Sterling’s package but can actually hit the ball. Plus he’s taller than a smurf.
City have a problem, we don’t. Their stars are going to be thinking why is this unproven kid earning more than them. It’s brilliant for us, huge unrest in their camp will follow if he doesn’t deliver according to his pay packet. It may be their undoing this season allowing us to take advantage if we can find another 15+ goals.
Jordan Ibe could be a similar level now but I dont think he was at the time otherwise he would of got more chances i presume. We do have coutinho, ibe, firmino, marcovic, lallana that can cover all the positions that sterling could play in and could all be potentially be as affective if given time. And our squad is maybe a little too young anyway. So in my eyes it is good business. I think in most transfers there’s roughly a 50/50 chance of what is deem to be successful but i think that might be a little generous considering citys reputation and price tag of player. Like you say we NEED to spend wisely but they seem to be improving and they do try to get the bigger names now and again but that is easier said than done ( willian, sanchez, costa, mkhitaryan…) After saying this i do feel they are a little too tight but wouldnt you be if you just arrived in the country and people have your pants down with 35 million for carol
I’m not celebrating his departure, although I wish the lad all the best for the future. He was a genuinely exciting player to watch, and apart from the tail end of last season he was giving us his best every week. I would have loved to have seen the lad evolve in the red shirt, just as I watched Fowler grow.
” … others equally talented, not so lucky.” Who was as talented as Raheem? You’ve totally lost me there, I can’t recall seeing any of our young players with anything near the raw talent. Ibe is about the closest I can think of, and he has been given his chance. Injury lost him his place in the side, and I expect he’ll get lots more opportunities next season. Well, I certainly hope he does.
With respect (which normally means ‘bullshit’) I think ‘game changer’ and ‘match winner’ are slightly exaggerating. Maybe one day. But not yet. And maybe never. We’ll see. City won’t wet nurse him.
Well he won matches and changed games for Liverpool so….
He also lost us games with his inability to put away sitters
Can’t argue with that.
Can’t argue with that.
Did he though? I’m struggling to think of a game in which we were going nowhere until he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and won it for us. That’d be my definition of a game changer.
Name five games in all of his league games where he single handedly took the game by the scruff of the neck and won the match by creating something from nothing. Come on, just five.
I think I agree on all points. About the only thing I have read today that I agree with.
I couldn’t believe it when I got in and saw all the fb status’s from mates saying stuff like cheers City, now do one ya little rat or want a lift. Or the ones saying ‘good business’. I put I’m disappointed to see him go and won’t be popping the champagne over the money. He had to go and we had to get the best we could, which we’ve done but no one comes out of this well. Not the club, the agent or the player. Another mate put it’s basically Milner and £49m for Sterling. I put with the QPR money it’s closer to Benteke for Sterling. I think with our problems this season and the post ‘BBC Interview’ form Liverpool fans have forgotten how good Sterling is.
Tonight is the first time I’ve felt like we’re a feeder club. With Mascherano and Alonso I’d taken solace that it was in the H&G era and either you couldn’t blame them or it was suggested by the club initially. Torres was similar in that the H&G era meant it was untenable for him despite the changes. Suarez was in the top 3 players bracket for me so it was exceptional circumstances. This one feels like we’ve developed a player and sold him for a huge sum like Southampton seem to be doing or West Ham have traditionally.
I suppose the best time to have the ‘is he worth £49m / have Liverpool done well here would be 2 or 3 years down the line. Let’s see how Sterling is doing at City and how well the player(s) we spent the money are doing for us. I don’t want to speculate doom but I will say I think Sterling will be perfect for City.
This move has nothing to do with being feeder club. Read my comment below yours. Liverpool supporters have always overhyped the modern day Sterling. We spoke of his potential like it was a given. Its never given. Its earned. All the overhype (currently) has actually led him to getting paid more now at City and us getting a higher transfer payout. So we did a good job for both us and Sterling. If the club couldn’t afford Sterling leaving, we would have made sure he saw out his contract or given him a raise for the next 2 years. We knew it wouldn’t be worth it in those next 2 years and could get more impactful talent here and now.
I’ve read it mate. I’m not impressed.
Became a starter in Jan 2014? He was a regular starter the season before at 18. He’s still only 20. Last season was tough all round but one things for sure, it got a lot better when we played Sterling up front. It turned our season around. Yes, he missed some chances, he’s 20. Be careful you don’t start believing your own bullshit. Sterling’s a brilliant player. Leaving Liverpool doesn’t change that. Fact is mate, we’ve developed a player and once he’s broken through we couldn’t keep hold of him. He said he wants to win things. This seems to be happening every summer now but look at it how you want mate.
“He wants to win things.” Club finished 2nd last year in a season where he only began starting in January. This year he was ineffective in most Champions League/Europa League/FA Cup matches. A player has the right to talk about winning things when he earns it on the pitch. When he steps up in big games, but ultimately his team fails. Sterling has been in position to win things so that point is invalid.
Liverpool won’t miss the modern day Sterling. Coutinho, Firminho, Lallana, and Ibe can all step in and move the ball up and down the pitch (and thats not accounting for future transfers). Each one of them either finishes better or can cleanly strike the ball better. LFC may miss Sterling 3-5 years from now, but thats assuming he actualizes his potential. Its not given. Its earned.
If a club went to Real and offered 45 for Toni Kroos, they would accept. The reason is that the bidding team’s needs or perception place a higher value on that player than the club selling. If someone is going to bid close to 50 for Sterling right here and now, then it makes sense to sell him. You can replace his talent relative to right now (not counting the future) and the risk of his value dropping ceases to exist.
Liverpool will not miss the modern-day version of Sterling.
“Sterling has been in position to win things so that point is invalid.”. I wasn’t in agreement with Carragher when he made this point and I’m not in agreement with it now. You watched those matches no? What you are suggesting is that Sterling should have won us UEFA inspite of the poor performances of the 10 around him. Suarez was in a position to win the league, league cup, FA cuo in 2013-2014 but failed, does that mean he was wrong to suggest that he was going elsewhere for further success?
Fact is, everytime a big player has left the club, they’ve gone on to enjoy success, even Torres. Modern day Sterling has something no one else in the squad has, he is electric off the mark, “no substitute for pace” and all that. That goal against Chelsea in the league cup had me dreaming about what he and Coutinho were going to become, don’t pretend as if potential means nothing, even Coutinho is still more potential than finished product and he’s 23, yet we wax lyrical about him because he signed a contract in a timely and efficient manner, we’ll see how he behaves when a bigger club comes in for him.
44 million, or whatever portion of that we get is great and all, but its rediculous how people are going on.
Let me just address some of this nonsense Yawkey
Club finished 2nd last year in a season where he only began starting in January.
Liverpool didn’t start 13/14 well. When did we turn it around? Well, it was after the Hull game at the start of December. We went on a good run in December which took us to the top. Sterling STARTED all 7 of our December games so can we drop this January shit please mate. Look at our honours in the last 5 years and look at City’s. I know which I’d rather play for if I was a neutral.
“This year he was ineffective in most Champions League/Europa League/FA Cup matches. A player has the right to talk about winning things when he earns it on the pitch”
Are you seriously suggesting a 20 year old can carry a whole team in Europe? The problem was clear. We had no outlet up front which meant the midfielders had no outlet and ran into a brick wall. Stop altering the narrative to suit you because he’s fucked us off.
Finding it hard to type this bit but are you seriously suggesting Lallana can step in for Sterling? Is that the Lallana that we see bombing forward at lightening speed like Sterling? Or the one who beats his man then turns back on himself because he doesn’t have the pace to lose his man? Ibe? Is that the same one who’s going back out on loan because we don’t feel he’s ready to play regularly for LFC? Or Firmino, the one you know absolutely nothing about?
Look, Liverpool had to sell Sterling this summer. It’d gone too far on both sides. We got a good fee for him. Great! What Liverpool need though is good players, not money in the bank or potential. Good players mate. We had one. He’s now gone. I accept that. What I don’t accept is that we’ve sold some crock of shit for £50m decided by you because Liverpool were poor last season. If you can’t see what Sterling will do with Aguero and Silva around him then that’s fine. If you can’t see that this whole sorry saga exposed a huge hole in Liverpool’s overall philosophy then fine but please, stop being silly and making out Sterling is at a similar level to the likes of Ibe. That may make you feel better short term but surely the best we can do here is be honest and accept our mistakes so we can learn from them. This short sightedness doesn’t help.
Robin Crimes, its not my intention to make Sterling sound like a bench player. He is a very good player with potential. I just don’t view him as a transcendental player, yet. He is good on the ball, but isn’t overly creative (but is effective at completing the obvious assist). His finishing will improve over time, but he doesn’t cleanly strike the ball well. Sterling didn’t take over any games this season, regardless of the competition. From England’s national games to Liverpool’s EPL, CL, EUL, or FA matches.
It is possible that Sterling actualizes his talent and ups his game to another level. Liverpool would miss that Raheem. But that is why they are getting close to 50 for him. LFC will not miss the modern version of Sterling. They have players who can bring the ball up from midfield and have players who are better finishers, more creative and can strike the ball cleaner. And we’ll see how the funds are re-invested with new talent.
I think we as LFC supporters overvalued Sterling. We saw him as “ours” and always wanted his potential to be actualized. But that takes hard work on the pitch during off-days and is never a given. We created a perception of Sterling that influenced the reality of most of those around us. That is the power of a big club. We played a part in Sterling getting a pay day and the club getting paid a handsome fee. Its a good day for all those involved.
Well, I hope you’re not speaking for me in that. It’s never a good day when we sell a proven brilliant player. Like I said above, time will tell whether a) Sterling is a good player and b) whether the £40m was well spent.
The bottom line for me is, Liverpool have lost a good player that I don’t think we can replace. Nothing to celebrate there, thanks.
Sterling became a starter in January 2014. He didn’t make any noticeable improvements this year from an eye-test perspective and thats ignoring his actual stats being worse than the prior season (if we give the excuse of no Suarez and barely at Sturridge). He is a poor finisher and doesn’t strike the ball well. He does have potential. But if he isn’t going to be here in 5 years to actualize it then selling made the most sense.
Its not about being a selling club. Its about making good business and football decisions. Don’t forget about FFP. Selling Sterling means added flexibility to bring in more impactful talent. From a football perspective, we won’t miss the modern version of Sterling. Maybe in the future things will change, but not right now. Already the club has guys who will be able to move the ball in midfield with Coutinho, Lalanna, Firminho and Ibe. This isn’t even accounting for future transfers. And all those guys either have better finishing or can strike the ball cleaner.
Look it’s my view that the Club is at a 5 year consolidation point with Fsg. Yes we’re not where we wanna be atm however all things can change rapidly. FSG will be fully aware their honeymoon period was well and truly over some time ago and the spotlight is upon them. As for Sterlings future and the clubs part in that eventuality, both parties were guilty and without doubt the neglectful treatment in a potentially huge talented asset is totally unacceptable in terms of lessons learnt and any future player relations, and should it happen again then heads will surely roll.
And for the behaviour of Sterling and his entourage? That is equally as unacceptable and the message from here on in is simple. Don’t fuck with LFC. As Robbo says it is a fact of the modern game that the Super Powers play by their own rules and the remainder need make the best of the situation until such time when we become one of the Super Powers. And from the viewpoint that the Club cant turn back time, I’m sure the majority would agree the eventual outcome is more than acceptable and I don’t often agree with Craig Burley on ESPN however he nailed it when referring to Sterling as a bad egg who needed to be moved on and now he’s gone he’s City’s problem. NO individual is bigger than the club however equally the club is never bigger than the supporters. YNWA
I’m really going to miss him. I think some are forgetting the reality of this transfer. The kid is a phenomenal talent, will likely only get better and now he’s going to play against us at least twice a season. Let that sink in.
Maybe there’s only so much you can do with an impressionable 20 year old and a rogue agent but Liverpool is a top club who shouldn’t be this vunerable to one guy’s antics.
Or he could regress even further. He went backwards last year . All the more reason me thinks Suarez and Sturridge make him look so good in our title challenging year
So how do you think he will perform with Augero and Silva then? The lad is a quality footballer and too many are too quick to dismiss his talent, a £49m benchwarmer? I don’t see it myself, I think he’ll flourish surrounded by top footballers, as he has shown in the past. It comes down to how well the money is spent now.
Do you think I’d look good alongside Sturridge and Suarez. I can assure you I wouldn’t.
Waiting for Leanne to come on here and blame Rodgers for all this.
Took the words right out of my mouth!! Even though Sterling didn’t play that day I’m sure she’ll find some way to mention the Stoke 6.1 also!!!
Please expand on this sentence “FSG are determined to attempt to rip up some of the rules that resulted in the club haemorrhaging money in the past but this practice seems questionable”
What specifically is questionable? Running to break even/turn a profit itself, or the way they are trying to do it (via the age profile of the squad and wages offered)
Or are you saying that FSG have some obligation to run the team at a loss in order to win trophies?
Lacazette or Reus. Make it happen. Money talks.
Took the words right out of my mouth!! Even though Sterling didn’t play that day I’m sure she’ll find some way to mention the Stoke 6.1 also!!!
Hate that he’s going to a club in the league. Also many fellow fans are being revisionist and suddenly saying he’s not that good/overrated/etc. That’s laughable. He’ll be a stud. There’s “pretty good prospect” (Ibe) and then there’s “frightening prospect” (Sterling). People please stop saying Ibe and Ojo are better than Sterling, just stop.
Also Sterling is t-w-e-n-t-y. He has upside and will continue to develop. In a normal situation any 20 year old will have their growing pains, but on top of that he was overplayed, run into the ground, and also asked to play striker or wing-back half-the time.
Now he should defintely have handled himself with dignity, and it’s disgraceful the way he’s orchestrated the move–on that one, we’re in agreement.
Let’s just hope we spend the 49M well. Let’s hope that Firmino makes us forget, and also that Ibe and Markovic can develop with a little less pressure. But man, transfer committee, please use the 49M well.
I remember his poor game against Hull. We had him and moses playing and they were both terrible. That was the season we came close. Then we played well and him, Henderson and even Flanagan were raved about.
Fact is Henderson is probably the best of the lot and he is not for sale.
Sterling can’t finish, can’t header and I find it strange where man city will play him! They have Silva, Nasri, Toure and Pogba-maybe so it’s a case of where to fit him in. They have problems elsewhere like midfield and defence not goalscoring:)
Sterling probably wanted to go London but arsenal and Chelsea were too clever. Now he has that big contract will the next team match it or decrease it? How will he feel and he will have to perform like Messi every week.
I prefer Ibe. The club needs to move on and have players who buy in to the idea. I’m sad about Balotelli. If we are not gonna play him then move him on but don’t make excuses brendon.
One thing about Brendan is he needs to play to win not just stick to his ego ideas.
We will make 2 more signings bur I will be chuffed if I see Balotelli have a super season at anfield!
Good piece though I’d say maybe Liverpool should act fast AND smart!, something that has not always been our main thrust!!
It’s a good move for all involved in my opinion – Sterling gets a move to a team expected to win trophies consistently over the coming years, Man City get a player that they want and need, and Liverpool get the money that they need to reinvest in building a better team.
Sterling was a good player for us and will likely become a great player eventually, but right now Liverpool SHOULD be able to improve more by reinvesting that money wisely, than we could by having Sterling in the team.
Snap. This is only a good deal if he doesn’t end up going to Barca for €90m in a few years and if we replace him with the star power that gets us where we need to be. And lessons need to be learned about the management of contracts. A tolerable end to a miserable affair.
At least £10M of the cash should go directly to the Academy to go towards buying up the best propects. That’s were we will get best value while we can’t compete with the big spenders.
Get used to losing our best when we don’t have a regular CL spot and don’t compete for the PL. It’s gonna happen.
It has nothing to do with CL. Our top players are going to want to play for the biggest clubs on the planet if they’re good enough to attract their attention. LFC simply cannot pay its players the same as the big clubs. That’s a fact of life for LFC the business, there are better run, far richer businesses in the same sector.
It’s all about money. You think these create players want to play in tinpot leagues like France? It’s the enormous salary that makes the decision. The players themselves still get to strut their stuff on the main stage, it’s just done at international level.
There are four richer, better run clubs in the same division as LFC. Spurs aren’t far off, but may struggle now they’re having to build a stadium. Get used to it, or you’ll spend the rest of your life deluding yourself. As a club, we just need to be heading in the right direction and not lose too much ground, and have to capitalise should those ahead should screw up (Moyes, squad churn etc).
I don’t think I am delusional at all.
Take the example of a player who has no emotional attachment to his current club. He’s paid £100K pw but with little chance of winning anything or playing in the top club competition. He knows he can get the same deal at a club that has a consistent place in the CL and a chance to compete for the EPL. What does he do?
Now, if he’s offered £150K pw by his current club will he stay? Well the likelihood is the purchasing club will match that anyway. So, off he goes.
It makes sense to him. Of course players want the cash, no doubt about that but they also want trophies….AND they can have both.
So, sorry it’s everything to do with playing in the top competitions and winning medals.
Not convinced from his BBC interview where he said “if they offered me a contract last summer I’d have signed it” would’ve made much difference if we had, he first turned down a new contract in October, leads me to question what happened in those 6-7 weeks since the summer what had happened? Had city got to him then? And even if he did sign that contract or we had offered him a contract last summer, can we honestly say this set of events wouldn’t have happened anyway? We’ve got a good price for him regardless, people say it’s only a good price depending who we replace him with, that’s a nonsense argument, it’s two separate things, our penchant for fuckuppery in the the buying side of the market doesn’t mean we got a bad price for the likes of Torres and Suarez, we just went about our usual fuckuppery after the fact.
I don’t begrudge players wanting to leave there’s very little loyalty in football and that’s from both sides players and clubs, look at the abuse Borini received for wanting to stay!!! Can’t have it both ways, but there’s absolutely no excuse whatsoever for the way Sterling and that tit Ward behaved in the last 2 weeks that is everything that is wrong with modern football.
Pay rise for Coutinho then, just in case…
Judging from what I’ve heard about Coutinho, using the money to purchase a player who will best utilize his talents and get us into the CL would be a wiser investment. The whole squad now is more or less built around his relationship with Sturridge on the pitch. We need another Sturridge, and then we can worry about a Plan B. Benteke does not fit the bill.
Anyone worth bringing (Lacazette) will want CL football, so we have to present a package that will compensate for that desire. I feel like Ayre can make a convincing case that we would take a very good player like Lacazette and turn him into a global elite like we did with Suarez. That and a lot of money (no French 75% tax) should do the trick. The first step is to put enough money on the table for Lyon to reconsider. It should be done quickly before other clubs have a chance to allocate their funds for a rival bid, hoping that they will be focused on other targets at the moment. I’m sure Lyon would prefer not to lose Lacazette to rival PSG, so we should take advantage while we can.
Lacazette would bring out the best in Coutinho and keep him in the thoughts of his national team, and hopefully bring CL football a year from now.
Every club sells players, I don’t feel that the departures of Sterling and Suarez over the past 12 months has suddenly seen us become some lowly selling club, as some people seem to be framing it. The key is to try and keep your best players obviously, but the moment they no longer want to be here all you can do is try and get the best price for them, and frankly we have been very good at that for a number of years now. Hopefully we spend the money wisely. I suspect we have something like £65m left in the kitty as it stands so even if we do spunk 25 odd million on Benteke, the Sterling fee should be used to by another match winner, we could have a seriously good squad by the end of August and I for one am not that arsed Sterling has left. It’s not like we’ve just lost Owen in his pomp or Suarez last year, he’s a kid with potential who may or may not become one of the greats, if he does then so be it, if he doesn’t well the fee looks even better, at the end of the day potential doesn’t win you games, end product does, so lets add some end product to the team now. Exciting season ahead. YNWA
Good presser from Brendan today. Keeping his cards close to his chest. More please.
Totally agree, no hard feelings from here Raheem, we’ll do our business in behind closed doors. Came across as bigger person .
I’m neither Rodgers nor Fsg’s biggest fan, but I don’t see how the club are to blame here. Sterling only started to play well for us on anything resembling a consistent basis in the last 10 or so games of 2013/14. The club offered him £100k/week less than 6 months later – a very generous offer for a player who – at the time – had put in no more than 10-15 good performances and missed 4 or 5 guilt-edged chances for every one he took. At that stage he also had nearly 3 years left on his contract too.
Besides, it’s academic when the club made the offer. City are going to pay him 200k/week (which I’m sure Sterling and Ward were aware of) so the only way we could have held onto him was to match that and frankly, 200k/week is madness for a player with no end product and poor finishing. If Sterling was on 200k/week and we went to sign a proven, top class forward like, say, Benzema or Higuain, they’d rightly point at Sterling’s salary and demand double or triple which, of course, is unsustainable.
Only time will tell if this was good business or not but in terms of the club’s role in it, I don’t see what choice they had? I’d be far more critical of Fsg for (reportedly) lining up Benteke for £30m+. Yet another ‘young player with potential’ is NOT the way forward
I do still worry about out transfer committee. We should be looking at players like Cabaye at 10m. Bargain.
He didn’t want to stay here, for fuck’s own sake, meaning that apart from any and everything else he did not want to play for the current manager. Really can’t see anything else in this.
We get to play with 40 million, save the 10 million+ in wages we’d have had to pay him if he’d accepted a renegotiated contract, which would have surely had a buy-out clause after 2 years like Suarez’s had.
Let’s be cautious with the money, is all.
Didn’t take long for the let’s blame Rodgers for everything crowd to rock up.
I’m kind of nonplussed on him, neither for not against, but I just don’t buy that a (rational, sensible, thoughtful…) player would really ‘not want to play’ for the manager who brought him through, developed him, gave him chance after chance (on and off the pitch) and had him playing some excillerating football less than 2 years after he became a regular.
An immature/easily led/greedy/disloyal /manipulated (delete as you see fit, personally I think the first and second) young player may on the other hand I suppose but none of them can be blamed on the manager
I’m thrilled that he is gone. As much as I think it is extremely unfortunate to lose talented young players to rivals, and as much as I understand that this is a business and players need to view it as such, I can’t abide by a player who shows so much disrespect for the club. At the end of the day I root for Liverpool, no matter the players on the team, and I would have found it very hard to show support for Sterling had he stayed.
Interesting debate and I find myself siding with both those for and against Sterling’s worth.
In thinking it through, a couple things keep coming to mind:
1. I’ve never seen anything like Sterling. He’s the new who exactly?? He’s got the pace of Walcott but can dribble and is actually a good footballer. SWP was of the same ilk but never as good. What’s more, he’s only 20 and so could be the next Bale (in that he could be an incredibly effective type of player that has a unique skill package). The idea of Sterling becoming a world-class player haunts me, though I am somewhat mollified by the fact that we got a fee worthy of a world-class player.
2. On the other side of the coin: He’s great for a 20 year old, but would be a great disappointment if he only maintained at this level over the next 2-3 years. His stats in terms of end product aren’t great and he has two glaring weaknesses – he has no composure in the box and can’t kick the ball (ever) without scuffing it. Without addressing these issues, he’ll never be a top player.
From this vantage, to achieve his potential (and earn his transfer fee and wage packet) and become a top player Sterling would need to become roughly twice as good/effective in the next couple years. To become a truly world-class player he would then need to be twice as good/effective AS THAT a couple years after that. Is this likely? Probably not. Aaron Lennon looked like he had that rampant potential to go along with his blistering pace, as a 19 year old, but ONLY remained that good. As a 27 year old, the potential promise was gone and all that was left was a fast but only moderately effective winger. Here’s hoping that’s what we’ll be saying about Raheem in a couple years. Few deserve that trajectory more than him.