With Liverpool and Manchester City finally coming to an agreement worth £49mil for want-away winger Raheem Sterling, all we have to do now is just wait for his medical to be completed and personal terms to be agreed between the player and the club.
Rejecting two bids in June for the 20-year old, the Anfield outfit, at least in public, have always held on to the stance that the ex-Queens Park Rangers man wasn’t for sale. Privately though, the sum of £50mil was believed to be the price-tag that they attached to him. a fee that they not only held out for, but came within £1mil of achieving — an eye-watering amount of money that Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has applauded the club for bringing in for a player that is more potential than proven.
“Raheem is a very good young player but he has not yet hit the heights of an Owen, Rooney, Fowler or Giggs at this stage of his career,” he told Sky Sports News. “So there’s no doubt £49m is a great deal for Liverpool. It’s a great fee and credit to the owners who have shown great strength. It sends a message to other clubs and current players. Surely in the future they will want to halt the exodus of Liverpool’s top players moving on,” he continued. “The price is not something Raheem can control and the debate will rage about whether he’s worth it or not but the price is more to do with nationality and potential.”
The Reds are expected to re-invest much, if not all of the money they bring in from the sale of the 20-year old, though they’ll have to pay out £9mil to recently relegated QPR with the London club smartly attaching a 20% sell on clause to his contract when they sold him to Liverpool for an initial fee of £500,000 five years ago. Barcelona wide-man Pedro Rodriguez, Real Madrid winger Denis Cheryshev and, in some other plane of existence, Borussia Dortmund attacker Marco Reus have all been linked with a move to Merseyside, but the Anfield outfit is almost certain to bring in a striker before they move to replace the City bound youngster.
