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To Liverpool: Logic suggests letting Sterling go

By on July 8, 2015

Raheem Sterling’s ongoing transfer saga with Liverpool reminds one of an awkward, elongated breakup. Or, more cynically, a slo-mo train wreck. Either way, it hasn’t been good news for the club or Sterling this off-season, with both establishing, as Jamie Carragher put it in a recent post on Kicca, a “reputation” for contract troubles.

For months, Sterling’s contingent has offered a stream of strong hints, but Rodgers has turned a blind eye to all of it. Sterling’s agent, Aidy Ward, quickly lit fire to the self-made argument. “[Sterling] is definitely not signing. He’s not signing for £700,000, £800,000 or £900,000 a week. He is not signing,” Ward said in an already infamous interview with the London Evening Standard.

But with a year left on the forward’s contract, neither is Rodgers willing to let Sterling leave easily this summer. “Raheem has two years left and I expect him to see that two years through and continue to behave as immaculately as he has done,” said Rodgers in May, per Sky Sports.

“We want to resolve the [contract] situation but it doesn’t change my approach to him. There is no problem there.”

Rodgers, it seems, is willing to play nice. Reportedly, he offered to match Sterling’s lofty financial demands, only for Sterling to refuse the offer (the club having denied the reports).

As Liverpool stance remains unwavering, Sterling’s actions become more severe in his attempt to force a move. On Tuesday, he refused to join their preseason tour of the Far East and Australia. Sterling “called in sick” for training on Wednesday and later in the afternoon told the club he refuses to play under Rodgers.

So why are Liverpool hanging onto their want-away twenty-one-year-old forward? The longer the club wait, the worse the position they are in to monetize his ultimate transfer. Already, Liverpool’s reported £50 million valuation of Sterling is pushing the boundaries of football’s fuzzy market discipline, to the point where even Manchester City seem to be warded off.

The fans, it seems, no longer want Sterling either. Liverpool fan site Empire of the Kop wrote of Sterling’s actions: “How dare he? Get this footballer out of our club for top dollar and reinvest it wisely. His Liverpool future is simply untenable.”

In the end, Sterling is not irreplaceable. As a homegrown player and one of England’s brightest future stars, his value may be high to Liverpool’s identity. But Rodgers will have to name a price and given the lofty fee inevitably involved, could spin a deal of similar promise on the pitch with a shrewd approach and a sprinkle of luck.

But seemingly, Rodgers hasn’t taken the hint. Sterling is, or will make himself, untenable should Rodgers block a potential move to Manchester City or elsewhere. To reassess, accept their fate, and search for an attractive deal would seem to be the best option to get the most out of Sterling today. Unless, of course, that’s not what the fight is truly about.

Photo credit: By Kamran Hussain, via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.