Home   >   Previews   >   Tides changing in Raheem Sterling saga as Manchester City face Liverpool

Tides changing in Raheem Sterling saga as Manchester City face Liverpool

By on November 20, 2015

It was the second Sunday in July and Raheem Sterling had missed two Liverpool training sessions over the past week. Sterling’s very public transfer saga over the prior few months had blown up the back pages, but the Mail claimed that Sterling was still committed to Liverpool that morning as he was driving into training. It wasn’t a vicious booing from Liverpool’s traveling supporters, nor the moment Brendan Rodgers accused Sterling of back-chat on television, nor months of rumors that put the nail in the coffin. Rather, it was a phone call from Rodgers that day to confirm that Liverpool had accepted a £49 million bid from Manchester City for the youngster.

The saga was vigorously documented, with Rodgers having mounted pressure on Sterling in his pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference on February 9th. “He has been offered a wonderful deal, an incredible deal for a young player,” said Rodgers. As the rumors mill began to swirl into action, Sterling took to the BBC to vent his own frustrations and his agent, Aidy Ward further escalated the increasingly toxic situation. Sterling eventually went down in flames, by chance or by design, accused of moving to City for the luxury of a £180,000-a-week contract. “It is a bit too much, keeps getting brought up and not making me think the best I can,” he said, per The Guardian. “It all adds up.”

In Liverpool’s visit to City this week, the away end will make sure Sterling hears their vitriol.

But Sterling won’t be the only man facing his former club — at the same time, James Milner’s move the other way slipped under the radar. He was signed on a £150,000-a-week contract, more than Sterling was originally asking for and for all of Milner’s workmanlike efficacy, there’s no question who got the better end of the swap. Jamie Carragher tweeted at the time: “I wish LFC bought players as well as they sold them.”

Four months on, Carragher’s comments are more relevant than ever as the tides have begun to shift and Sterling has started the process of piecing back together his reputation. Rodgers’ sacking at Liverpool in October certainly helped the cause.

Certainly, Sterling’s form had waned in his final days at Anfield in part due to the pressure of being Rodgers’ main attacking outlet with the rumors in the background at the same time, which promoted further criticism and doubt surrounding City’s colossal transfer fee. In his final eleven appearances of the 2014/2015 season, he scored just one goal and managed a shot on target a measly average of once every 125 minutes.

Yet Sterling has proven his doubters wrong this season, scoring six goals in all competitions so far, only behind Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne at City. In his first eleven league games of the season, he has nearly halved his minutes per shot-on-target rate and has scored four goals from the wing and up front. He’s far from a finished product and it will take some doing for Sterling to live up to his transfer fee,, yet as City sit top of the table, nine points above tenth-placed Liverpool, they’ve earned their bragging rights. Although Sterling’s plump transfer fee cushioned their loss, Jurgen Klopp could certainly use his pace up front.

As the Mail revealed today, Sterling told a friend after his City debut, a 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion: “Bringing on Aguero as a sub? Wow. I’m definitely in the right place.” Heading into City’s meeting with Liverpool tomorrow, there’s little doubt which party has come off the best at the end of Sterling’s transfer saga.

Homepage photo credit: By Biser Todorov (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], 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.