Liverpool FC Forum

[The_Rock]

Sterling is just 1 injury away from being another micheal owen. If he loses his pace, there is not much he brings to the table.

My advice to the board.....stick with $100K. If he refuses to sign....sell him to madrid for $60M. Lets then reinvest the money with better tehnical players.

FWIW...i think IBE could be a competant replacement for sterling.

[aCe']

Sterling is just 1 injury away from being another micheal owen. If he loses his pace, there is not much he brings to the table.

My advice to the board.....stick with $100K. If he refuses to sign....sell him to madrid for $60M. Lets then reinvest the money with better tehnical players.

FWIW...i think IBE could be a competant replacement for sterling.

I dont like to see us losing our best players (We've been doing it at an almost annual basis now), but I have to agree with what was said above.

I dont think Sterling is anywhere near good enough to be earning what Gerrard at probably 28 or 29 started earning. What the likes of Suarez earned. He's replaceable and I think he'd struggle at a club with bigger expectations.

With regards to Henderson, he's improved but still not a player who is irreplaceable. Both are a bit overhyped and in all honesty if they demand more than they are worth then I have no problem with both of them leaving. It would be a bit harder replacing Sterling (finding a player with pace who fits the system might be a struggle) but its doable nonetheless.

[Red Focus]

Sterling is just 1 injury away from being another micheal owen. If he loses his pace, there is not much he brings to the table.

My advice to the board.....stick with $100K. If he refuses to sign....sell him to madrid for $60M. Lets then reinvest the money with better tehnical players.

FWIW...i think IBE could be a competant replacement for sterling.

I dont like to see us losing our best players (We've been doing it at an almost annual basis now), but I have to agree with what was said above.

I dont think Sterling is anywhere near good enough to be earning what Gerrard at probably 28 or 29 started earning. What the likes of Suarez earned. He's replaceable and I think he'd struggle at a club with bigger expectations.

With regards to Henderson, he's improved but still not a player who is irreplaceable. Both are a bit overhyped and in all honesty if they demand more than they are worth then I have no problem with both of them leaving. It would be a bit harder replacing Sterling (finding a player with pace who fits the system might be a struggle) but its doable nonetheless.

Agree! Henderson is being greedy. A good Liverpool player would only leave for a club that is richer and more successful than the current Liverpool namely the big 2 in Spain and domestically, City and Chelsea. But would those 4 teams want him? So I don't see the logic behind Henderson rejecting an improved offer. As for Sterling, 100,000K is almost triple his current pay and if he still adamantly rejects it, then let him rot at the bench of any of those 4 clubs.

All this comes down to FSG and BR flawed policy of signing kids with potential. Now we have a kid here who wants 150,000/wk and holding the club at ransom. FSG thought kids were easy to negotiate and will accept gradual increments as their career progresses at the club. Well, Raheem's case has proven it to be not so. This 'kids with potential' policy is now coming back to bite their backsides and I hope they have learnt their lesson and will sign one or two ready made quality players every summer. Look at last summer signings, none of them made us feel exited about the new season.

[supersub]

SELL THE PAIR OF GREEDY LITTLE SH.TS

[Ola Mr Benitez]

All this comes down to FSG and BR flawed policy of signing kids with potential. Now we have a kid here who wants 150,000/wk and holding the club at ransom. FSG thought kids were easy to negotiate and will accept gradual increments as their career progresses at the club. Well, Raheem's case has proven it to be not so. This 'kids with potential' policy is now coming back to bite their backsides and I hope they have learnt their lesson and will sign one or two ready made quality players every summer. Look at last summer signings, none of them made us feel exited about the new season.

LOL - rubbish!

This totally ratifies their decision to buy kids with potential.  Sterling either signs a contract which is probably lower than we would have to sign and pay someone of his talent or they sell him for £45 mill plus.

Cant see how that is a failure in policy to be honest????

[devaney]

Just how flawed is the policy? Torres to Chelsea when he was a shadow of his best and we collected nearly £30m in proft! Suarez to Barca when he was seriously damaged goods and we still collected more than £50m in profit. Sterling to whoever and lets not be silly with crazy expectations like £60m - assuming a more realistic £30m and we collect nearly £30m in profit. Sterling still has a lot to learn. His finishing at times is fkg woeful. His decision making also leaves a lot to be desired. Good player yes there is absolutely no doubt but I honestly think Ibe will be better.

[maguskwt]

Sterling is just 1 injury away from being another micheal owen. If he loses his pace, there is not much he brings to the table.

My advice to the board.....stick with $100K. If he refuses to sign....sell him to madrid for $60M. Lets then reinvest the money with better tehnical players.

FWIW...i think IBE could be a competant replacement for sterling.

Owen and Sterling are completely different players. Owen was definitely more established and more valuable to a team than Sterling. The latter is however for skillful than the former. But the former's finishing was at an elite level. Owen scored wherever he played. Even when he was playing for the mancs, coming off the bench or in league cups, he scored. A hamstring injury to Sterling would be more harmful.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

If Ibe returns from injury showing no ill effects after tweaking his knee ligaments then I'd show the pair of them the door, I'd take the ridiculous amount Sterling is bound to go for and give it all to either Everton or PSG for Barkley or Veratti. Team either of them up in CM with Lucas and voila, team sorted for the foreseeable future.

                               Mingolet

                  Can        Skrtel       Sakho

  Ibe             Lucas (c)    Barkley/Veratti          Moreno

                      Lallana       Coutinho

                              Sturridge

Plus we'd have the likes of Markovic, Origi And Allen as back up.

[Homebooby]

I agree with the comments about the players with potential policy we've been following but not necessarily for the same reason. The problem is that we lack senior and high calibre players at the moment in order to show a more realistic pecking order. Our dependency is too great on the young players at the moment, hence the irrational demands (in my opinion irrational anyhow). Once this policy has had a few years to flourish, I would expect the scenario to be different than it is currently. It's still early days.

And I feel like I should say it again as I did a few pages ago in case he is reading this....Raheem, you're an idiot if you walk away from this club at the rates being offered, but if you do walk away good luck with the foreign languages and cultures...I am sure you'll deal with them both magnificently and teams in the UK will be beating down your door to sign you when you come back with your tail between your legs. In a world when the crowd can turn on Ronaldo, Bale and Suarez I'm sure someone of your caliber will be absolutely fine...

If he wants to go, let him...for the money he is demanding get yourself something nice instead.....

[devaney]

Yakka is anybody except his agenttalking about crazy transfer fees. If somebody came in with north of £30m for Sterling I would be tempted. I like his football but not much else.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Yakka is anybody except his agenttalking about crazy transfer fees. If somebody came in with north of £30m for Sterling I would be tempted. I like his football but not much else.

Didn't Pellegrini say that it would take £100m to buy him? Obviously we wouldn't get that but even half of it wouldn't be bad.

[parchpea]

His agent knows what other clubs are willing to pay and it will be in excess of our offer.

I don't think Sterling is a loyal otherwise we wouldn't have tapped him up at QPR and got him so the system
works two ways.

We will either have to pay up, and we should, or lose a top class young English player.

It will cost us a lot of money to replace him but it looks like the club has a strict pay plan on players of a
certain age and Sterling is caught up in that.

We need to be more flexible and just get the lad signed up.

[Reg]

It's not about football, it's about marketing/sponsorship value. Come on lads take the rose tinted glasses off.

Sterling stays - what revenue does he bring in v's if he leaves.  Ultimately they will probably have to pay to maintain momentum and income. He's hardly the first w@nker to play for us.

[Red Focus]

All this comes down to FSG and BR flawed policy of signing kids with potential. Now we have a kid here who wants 150,000/wk and holding the club at ransom. FSG thought kids were easy to negotiate and will accept gradual increments as their career progresses at the club. Well, Raheem's case has proven it to be not so. This 'kids with potential' policy is now coming back to bite their backsides and I hope they have learnt their lesson and will sign one or two ready made quality players every summer. Look at last summer signings, none of them made us feel exited about the new season.

LOL - rubbish!

This totally ratifies their decision to buy kids with potential.  Sterling either signs a contract which is probably lower than we would have to sign and pay someone of his talent or they sell him for £45 mill plus.

Cant see how that is a failure in policy to be honest????

I disagree.

We should not buy kids or youngsters with potential as our sole transfer policy which is what we seems to be doing at the moment. Look at last summer's signings, other than Lovren, Lallana and Lambert, all the others were unknown young players. Even if we can fetch 45+ million for Sterling, can we sign a suitable replacement especially if we don't finish in top 4? We'll end up signing more average guys like Borinis, Albertos, Lamberts, Aspases and we'll end up either as a feeder club or a work in progress all the time. A classic case was Alexis Sanchez who preferred Arsenal than us even though we had CL. He knew that Arsenal were a richer club with consistent CL qualifications every season. As a fan I was disappointed he rejected us but if I were him I would have chosen Arsenal than Liverpool. Because with signings mostly kids, you're giving established players like him that the club is a work in progress and he has no time for that. I would only agree with this kids policy if selling Sterling can enable  us to buy an equivalent or better replacement, but with the current state of the club and the mission of FSG, I cannot see this happening. I hope FSG, the transfer committee and Brendan will learn a lesson from here.

[Homebooby]

Isn't that the policy that Arsenal followed for years though?