Manchester City are overwhelming favourites to sign Raheem Sterling and will bid for the Liverpool forward when the transfer window opens.
Though Brendan Rodgers insisted he still expects Sterling to honour the two years he has left on his contract, City are in pole position — ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal — to sign him as they reshape their squad.
Sterling’s future on Merseyside is becoming increasingly unstable. His agent, Aidy Ward, gave an interview to the London Evening Standard in which he said his client would not sign a new deal ‘for 900,000 per week’.
Liverpool then cancelled a scheduled meeting between Ward, Rodgers and chief executive Ian Ayre, as they felt there was little point going through with a summit when Ward had made his position clear.
Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owners, will not be bullied. Rodgers said: ‘The ownership have shown strength in their time here. They have done an incredible job to stabilise the club. In this situation, they will show that strength and power to the club. The simple fact is Raheem has two years left on his contract.’
City, however, have moved into a position where they will look to strike for the £45million-rated England international and Manuel Pellegrini did not try to play down the prospect of Sterling arriving at the Etihad this summer, where he could expect to be paid £120,000 per week.
Arsenal would like to take Sterling, probably more so than Chelsea, but it is doubtful they could compete with City’s financial muscle — a transfer fee and wages over five years would take the package beyond £80million.
Pellegrini said: ‘I don’t know what happens with Sterling. There are a lot of very important players that maybe all the teams are wanting. We finish the season tomorrow. After that we’ll see what we need and which players can come here.
‘There won’t be major surgery because I don’t think we need it. We will try every year to have a stronger squad, not because we lost the title this year but because it’s important to make changes every year.’
Sterling was booed by some Liverpool fans when he attended the club’s end of season awards.
When Rodgers was confronted with a similar situation with Luis Suarez, he made the Uruguay striker train on his own but he says this issue is more complex and urged Liverpool’s fans not to turn on Sterling.
Rodgers said: ‘With Raheem, especially with him being such a young player, my duty will always be to protect, support and guide him. There will always be opinions but I see him every day and I will deal with it accordingly. There’s no doubt these type of things can affect players but what I know of Raheem is that he’s a strong boy who is continuing to work hard.
‘My message to the supporters would be: “This is a young boy who in my time as manager has given the club everything. He was thrust into the team at 17. He was given that opportunity and he grabbed it.’
Rodgers, though, would not comment on the decision to cancel the meeting with Ward, saying: ‘Whether there are talks or no talks, he has two years left and I expect him to be here.’
This has been a testing year for Rodgers and Liverpool, who are closing in on a deal for Burnley’s Danny Ings. Rodgers faces talks with FSG’s head of football Mike Gordon over the club’s performance but he does not think his job is under threat.
Asked whether he felt reassured FSG would stick by him, he replied: ‘Yeah, 150 per cent.’ Rodgers added: ‘The owners have had great success in terms of how they want to work. Everyone here has that belief in what they’ve brought to the club.’ – Daily Mail