Should Liverpool sell Raheem Sterling this summer?

Liverpool have rejected a bid from Manchester City for the services of young forward Raheem Sterling

The Raheem Sterling saga has gone on for a while now, ever since it emerged that the youngster was not going to sign a new deal with Liverpool.

There have been various reasons cited for his unwillingness to sign a new deal at Anfield, worth a reported £100,000 per-week.

The main reasons being suggest are that the clubs ambitions do not match his own, he is feeling bullied by the club or the main one he wants more money, which representative Aidy Ward has wholeheartedly denied.

Bid

It looks likely that Sterling will leave the Merseysider’s this summer. The first bid for Sterling of the summer has arrived. According to Sky Sports, that bid was £25million plus £5million in add-ons from Manchester City.

Everybody knew that was unlikely to be enough to prize the 20-year-old away from Anfield, but the bidding had to start somewhere and that is where it started.

Liverpool are believed to value Sterling at £50million and noises coming out of Anfield suggest that they are unwilling to budge from that value. However, we live in the real world and Reds officials know that Sterling’s value will be decreasing as time passes.

Liverpool are clearly willing to sell the youngster, but they want to do it on what appears to be their terms, not the buyers terms, or even the players terms.

Linked

Manchester City are obviously not the only club showing an interest in Sterling, as his reputation has grown immensely over the past two years. The likes of Spanish giants Real Madrid, Arsenal and Manchester United have all been linked with a move for the winger.

However, City are favourites to sign the forward at odds of 1/3, after they failed with an initial bid. No doubt they will be back with an improved bid this summer.

Premium

Raheem Sterling is a promising young English player and as such will have a big premium on his head. His type of player are few and far between and selling teams tend to raise their price when clubs come calling for their English players.

Potential

In the last two seasons Sterling has gone from a relatively unknown to a player that seems to now be famous across the globe. His pace and trickery with the ball are rare attributes in a modern English player.

He does have the potential to go on and become a world-class player in the future. However, he must avoid the media hype if he is to succeed. He cannot believe his own press, or the talking-up of his agent.

Sterling must find a way of blocking out the media attention and speculation to fulfil his potential in the next few years. If he does not then he will join a large list of English players who were expected to achieve big things, but produced very little in the game.

His form last season dipped slightly from the performances he was producing in the second half of the 2013/14 campaign. He did manage eight goals and eight assists last season, but at times he flattered to deceive in a red shirt.

Divided

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers may want Sterling to stay at Liverpool, but it seems that the Reds fans are divided on whether they should sell the young forward or not.

There is seems to be a school of thought that says sell Sterling for much as they can and then spend the money strengthening the squad. One thing wrong with that is that boss Rodgers has a poor record in the transfer market.

The other school of thought is to keep the forward and hope he changes his mind, or his agent. The youngster’s head has obviously been turned by his agent. At 20-years-old he may be easily influence, so bad advice is not what he needs at this stage of his career.

Saga

It is a shame for Sterling and Liverpool that the youngster’s situation has gone this way. Had he been advised different he may have been allowed to develop his ability and fulfil his potential at Liverpool. He seemed quite happy there for the last couple of seasons.

However, instead his future is going to be subject of speculation probably for the rest of the summer, if he is not sold of course. Sterling should be concentrating on improving his game at this juncture in his career, instead he is at the centre of what looks set to be this summer’s transfer saga.

Should Liverpool sell Raheem Sterling this summer?