Manchester City are growing increasingly confident aboout landing Raheem Sterling for less than Liverpool’s £50million valuation.
Sportsmail understands City will not pay more than £40m for the England star.
Liverpool’s hopes of sparking a bidding war for the forward in an attempt to maximise the transfer fee they’ll receive looks unlikely to materialise.
Arsenal and Chelsea are both interested, but have other priorities in the transfer market, while Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are unlikely to pay beyond the £30m City, who will make an improved bid this week, have already offered.
Sterling has just two years left on his current deal and Liverpool know his value will begin to fall rapidly over the next 12 months as a result, a factor Etihad chiefs are also more than aware of.
Meanwhile, Juventus defender Patrice Evra has urged his former Manchester United team-mate Paul Pogba to stay in Turin rather than move to City.
Pogba has been linked with a £60m move to the Etihad Stadium but Evra said: ‘I have told him he needs to make the best decision for him.
‘If he wants to leave for one of Europe’s big clubs then that is fine but I think it would be a good idea if he stays where he is. I don’t think Juventus will let him leave.’ – Daily Mail