According to various media reports Liverpool have declined Manchester City’s £30 million offer for wantaway forward Raheem Sterling. According to the Times City’s offer was for £25m, plus £5m in potential future payments. Liverpool’s response was that they wanted at least £50m for the England international,
Liverpool’s rejection is unlikely to deter City, whose chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak on Wednesday promised “high-quality” signings this summer, or any of the other interested parties.
Last month Liverpool rejected an enquiry from rivals Manchester United for the 20-year-old, and the City offer indicates that this could turn into a bidding war between the two Manchester clubs,
Two other clubs that could join in the Sterling sweepstakes are Chelsea and Arsenal, while lurking is new Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez, who brought Sterling to Anfield when he was a 15-year-old at QPR, has also expressed his admiration for the forward.
Sterling has has two years left on his Liverpool contract, but his agent has stated that he would not sign a new deal at Liverpool.
Sterling has maintained throughout negotiations that his issue was not about money, stating in an April interview not sanctioned by the club, that he did not want to be viewed as a “money-grabbing 20-year-old.”
Liverpool’s sixth-place finish means they cannot offer him Champions League football next season, unlike all those interested in signing him, and a disjointed campaign on the pitch personally has not helped.
The forward enjoyed his best form as a left-sided attacker alongside Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge the season before last in the Merseysiders’ title near-miss but in the campaign just finished he found himself shunted between right wing-back, right wing, a number 10 and as a central striker.
