Talking Football: Could Man City move ruin Raheem Sterling’s career?
This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.
Raheem Sterling is undoubtedly one of England’s most promising players – he has shone for Liverpool in the past couple of seasons. At the age of 20, Sterling has been a regular starter for Liverpool for the past two seasons, as-well as making 16 appearances for England’s first team.
At only 18, Sterling had signed an improved £30,000-a-week deal, £28,000 more a week than his original. But in recent months, Sterling had rejected a £100,000-a-week deal from Liverpool, causing controversy and anger among Liverpool supporters.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAs clubs from all over Europe heard him rejecting a new contract, was it in any doubt that England’s financial giants Manchester City would be interested in capturing the young star?
Recently, Manchester City have increased their pursuit to land the England player, originally offering £30m, increasing it to £40m and now reportedly a staggering £50m.
But if this deal goes through, how will it actually benefit both Manchester City and Sterling?
Over the past few years, England have had some promising talent emerging, including players such as Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair. After showing their potential, both were signed by Manchester City in 2012.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBoth players had a lot to live upto at City, who had won the Premier League the previous season. Unfortunately, they both failed to live up to their reputations at City.
Rodwell made a measly 16 appearances in two seasons for City before he was shipped out to Sunderland in 2014. Sinclair was sent out on loan after just one season before permanently securing a deal away from the Etihad in 2015, signing for Aston Villa.
In three seasons, Sinclair made just three starts for the club and made 13 appearances in total.
Many football fans, not only the Liverpool faithful, will be wondering why Sterling would turn down such a huge contract from one of the world’s biggest football clubs and risk moving to a club where he may not feature regularly.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdFormer Liverpool defender and club legend Jamie Carragher brands the situation a ‘disgrace’ and insists Sterling and his agent shouldn’t be worried about the money as Liverpool is the best place to be for his development. Sterling claims he isn’t a ‘money-grabber’, which questions why he rejected Liverpool’s offer.
It is not only Manchester City who are eyeing up Sterling’s signature: the worlds biggest clubs such as Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain would reportedly like to snatch him up. Now Chelsea, too, are said to be interested. Yet, City seem to be the only team to make a formal offer for the Liverpool player.
If the move to City happens, how will it really benefit Sterling? Will he add to the list of City’s English flops or could he shine in a sky-blue shirt?
By Ben Pett
What’s your view? Tweet @ben__pett to get involved in the debate.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdDon’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.
Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.
1 Make this website your homepage
2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex
3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex
4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.
And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!