Raheem Sterling sure has been in the news a lot lately, but unfortunately for not only the 20-year old but for the club as well, it hasn’t always been for his sparkling form.
He may have opened the scoring with a superb effort in win over struggling Newcastle United earlier this week, but a number of embarrassing photos have emerged as of a late which, coupled with his putting off his protracted contract talks until the summer, have made life a little uncomfortable for the English star. Although he continues to insist that he’s happy on Merseyside, with nothing left to talk about until the end of the season, Sterling’s name has been popping up with alarming regularity in the gossip columns with the giants of world football apparently keeping a close eye on proceedings.
Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane has gone so far as to confirm that Los Blancos harbour a keen interest in the 20-year old, but that’s not concerning Ian Ayre one bit. “Raheem is a Liverpool player and has over two years left on his contract. We expect Raheem Sterling to be here for a long time,” the Reds CEO said. “Raheem’s agent has asked that we park all discussions regards his future until the summer. We respect that.”
Whether or not that’s true remains to be seen, but it would appear that the Anfield outfit has no interest in parting with the up and coming star — and they have a penchant for sticking to their guns. Although he’d eventually be sold to Barcelona for all the riches the Catalan club had to offer, Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group took an extremely hard line on Luis Suarez when he wanted to set up shop over at the Emirates Stadium the previous year; primary owner John Henry even went so far as to say that they outright ignored his buyout clause to keep him at the club. While the impasse over his contract doesn’t look like it’s going to be resolved anytime soon, maybe Ayre knows something we don’t…
