Manchester City will finally complete their protracted swoop for Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling this week, in deal worth up to £49million.
The Etihad Stadium club made the key breakthrough in discussions for the wantaway attacker over the weekend and are on the brink of landing their No 1 summer target.
The deal will see City pay their Barclays Premier League rivals a guaranteed £45million. An additional £4million in add-ons has also been negotiated, which would take the fee close to Liverpool’s £50million valuation. The deal is good news for Queens Park Rangers as they will makeclose to £9million as part of the Sterling’s move to Anfield from Loftus Road in 2010.
Liverpool are said to be satisfied with the obtainability of the proposed £4million in extras and are confident Sterling will meet the targets.
Sterling will formally negotiate personal terms before undergoing a medical at City this week, but this is understood to be a formality, with Sterling set to earn considerably more than the £100,000-per-week deal he rejected at Anfield.
The deal is the seventh most expensive transfer involving a British club. Once completed, Sterling, whose Liverpool contract does not expire until 2017, will become the most expensive English player in history.
For the second consecutive summer Liverpool have sold one of their prized assets and now have a lot of money to invest. Last summer, even the most loyal Liverpool fan will admit that the club did not do a good job with the money they received for Luis Suárez in buying quality replacements. It is not often that a club gets a do-over but that is what Brendan Rodgers has, Can he do a better job in the transfer market than he did a year ago? if he doesn’t he night we himself looking for a new job by Christmas.
As for City, Sterling is a very expensive piece in a rebuilding of a City squad that has aged, after winning two titles in the last three years. Sterling, and potentially Paul Pogba, are seen as the building blocks of the next City team that will challenge at home and in Europe.
