Liverpool FC Forum

[maguskwt]

apparently the he has put new contract talks on hold. If he thinks that he can develop better at other clubs he is badly mistaken. At Real, he will be just another squad player only used when needed and probably in cup competitions. Owen, who was a much more established player was treated the same at Real and after Real feels that he is an excess, his career nose-dived...

[Octsky]

hendo, our future cap, is also holding the club to a ransom.
it seems like present day footballers will want a big pay day for the next 4-5 years if they starred in one season.
i think sterling is just playing hard ball with us, he will sign it sure a matter of how much.

[Santa]

I believe Raheem is a big asset for us going forward but he is not indispensable to the club. For a young, merely established player to hold the club at ransom is just mind blowing. Supposed we agreed to the £120,000/£130,000 per week as he demanded, then we better be prepared to pay the same or more for Sturridge, Henderson, Coutinho etc. Next Ibe and his agent will come demanding £85,000 per week and any star players coming in will not take anything south of £160,000...and then the downward spiral begins and repeat every other season.

If this is the kind of scenario that the club is facing and we're faced with an impasse in the negotiation, then I'll say we sells him off to the highest bidder for nothing less than £50M then splash it all and get a marquee player.

A player's skill is highly valued but I valued one's attitude more. Maybe I'm just old school but I will say loyalty in football has died when Roman came to the scene more than a decade ago...sad!

[andy c legs]

I believe Raheem is a big asset for us going forward but he is not indispensable to the club. For a young, merely established player to hold the club at ransom is just mind blowing. Supposed we agreed to the £120,000/£130,000 per week as he demanded, then we better be prepared to pay the same or more for Sturridge, Henderson, Coutinho etc. Next Ibe and his agent will come demanding £85,000 per week and any star players coming in will not take anything south of £160,000...and then the downward spiral begins and repeat every other season.

If this is the kind of scenario that the club is facing and we're faced with an impasse in the negotiation, then I'll say we sells him off to the highest bidder for nothing less than £50M then splash it all and get a marquee player.

A player's skill is highly valued but I valued one's attitude more. Maybe I'm just old school but I will say loyalty in football has died when Roman came to the scene more than a decade ago...sad!

I agree with the above, wholeheatedly.  The club should not be held to ransom. It will send a worrying trend if we give in to Sterling and as quoted above, open the floodgates to others wanting more money. Correct me if im wrong but didn't I read somewhere that we have a performance related pay structure now?? If that's the case then I would happily reward the players more - especially if we did manage to finish 4th this season and win the cup. I'd dangle a large incentive carrot in front of them and say ' If you think you are worth that much - prove it'. Mind, the fan in me naively perhaps hopes that Sterling would want to achieve those goals regardless of any cash bonuses.

He may be a star at the moment but has achieved NOTHING of note in hi reds career so far. He could really achieve great things though if he signs a new contract and the team sticks together long term. As has been written on this  thread he still has two years left on his current deal - surely he wants to stay here as we plucked him from QPR in the first place. Again, I'm probably being nieve. On the other hand, if he wants to go then the club should have a definate stance and say that he's got until the summer to sign a new deal or WE will decide to sell him then and slap a £60 mill price tag on him. The last thing LFC want to avoid is a repeat of the Owen situation  - that was just riduculous at the time.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Sell him and use the money to buy Barkley.
With the likes of Ibe, Markovic and Moreno we have plenty of cover out wide and that's without mentioning the highly rated Wilson and Ojo who will be pushing for first team football within the next year or so.
As long as we don't sell him to another English club as far as I'm concerned he can go, Henderson can go as well if he's not happy, the greed of these modern footballers is staggering, nearly a million people used food banks in this country last year and here they are turning their noses up at multi million pound contracts.

[only me]

Sell him and use the money to buy Barkley.
With the likes of Ibe, Markovic and Moreno we have plenty of cover out wide and that's without mentioning the highly rated Wilson and Ojo who will be pushing for first team football within the next year or so.
As long as we don't sell him to another English club as far as I'm concerned he can go, Henderson can go as well if he's not happy, the greed of these modern footballers is staggering, nearly a million people used food banks in this country last year and here they are turning their noses up at multi million pound contracts.

Agree and I would even add and say that those two can't afford to be greedy, they are just not that good. We are in a good position with them both they can take the offer or we can easily cash on them and fill the ranks.

[RedAnt]

Sell him and use the money to buy Barkley.
With the likes of Ibe, Markovic and Moreno we have plenty of cover out wide and that's without mentioning the highly rated Wilson and Ojo who will be pushing for first team football within the next year or so.
As long as we don't sell him to another English club as far as I'm concerned he can go, Henderson can go as well if he's not happy, the greed of these modern footballers is staggering, nearly a million people used food banks in this country last year and here they are turning their noses up at multi million pound contracts.

You're right, mate. Sterling isn't at the level he seems to think he's at. We gave him his chance as we've done for many, many young kids over the years. There's one simple thing that matters in situations like this: is the player playing for the badge? In this case the answer seems to be no. That's the lack of a major qualification required to play for Liverpool FC. Sell him and let's move on.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Buy Barkley and if he won't come set up a swap with PSG for Veratti.

[Kenny Kan]

Sell him and use the money to buy Barkley.
With the likes of Ibe, Markovic and Moreno we have plenty of cover out wide and that's without mentioning the highly rated Wilson and Ojo who will be pushing for first team football within the next year or so.
As long as we don't sell him to another English club as far as I'm concerned he can go, Henderson can go as well if he's not happy, the greed of these modern footballers is staggering, nearly a million people used food banks in this country last year and here they are turning their noses up at multi million pound contracts.

This is one profession that is well out of touch with reality.

However, I wouldn't just 'sell him', I'd negiotiate hard for a contract that works well for both parties - and by that I don't mean givining him an open cheque-book, noway is he worth 50,000 a week (or thereabouts) more than Coutinho.

[fivecups]

I'd love him to stay, he's a great player and is continuing to improve. He seems like a decent lad, works hard and integrates well with the rest of the team. But, I agree with all the above, these months and months of negotiation are embarrassing, there really is no need for it if he's committed to the club. If his heads turned, he's making the wrong decision, but if it is, I hope we get proper money for him and make it clear to the other players they can go the same way.

[red till i die!!]

Fair enough that sterling is young but both sides have got to be looked at.

2 years ago he was a kid looking to break in to the side and suddenly this season he is leading the line for us. His ability doesn't deserve that responsibility but that didn't stop the club from placing it upon him. His agent is more than likely looking for him to be paid in accordance with similar players who hold similar positions in other big clubs. Personally I think he is being offered more than enough to sign on and is happy here but he pays an agent to manage his career and make these decisions for him. Thats the bottom line and if he has being courting interest from other clubs then he will hold out till he gets a top deal. This is football and the fact that he has only a year left puts the ball firmly in his and the agents court.

There is a problem within our club though and how player contracts are being managed. He isn't the only one who has hit a stalemate when it comes to negoitiating a new deal.They seem to have an approach of you will take what your given and as a result agents arrive in full armour. This makes it very hard to keep these talented players and build a side that can go on and win a league as we will always be replacing our better players and rebuilding. We are going to become the Ajax of the premier league.

[Scottbot]

I'm perpetually gob smacked by the response of a good chunk if our fan base with regards to Sterling's contract situation. Now I know that the money in football is ludicrous, let's take that as a given but if I read 'holding the club to ransom' again I think I'll scream. A few questions below for anyone who feels that way about Sterling.

1/ have FSG turned us all into accountants? That's what it feels like

2/ with the manager parading Sterling as the "best young player in Europe" is it any surprise his agents fancy they can barter a better deal?

3/ let's say the club don't pay him what he is asking and he is sold. does anybody really have ANY confidence that the funds would/could be used to buy a player of the same level? Given that our transfer policy is based COMPLETELY around buying players with potential who are NOT coveted by other teams.

4/ if he doesn't sign and the club sell him, what is the minimum transfer fee you would be happy with us getting for the lad? If your answer to this question is anywhere north of £40 million my next question is (in this market) how much would you expect a £40 million pound player to be earning p/week?

5/ do you think Chelsea or City would be having issues like this with of their brightest young players?

6/ if they pay him what he wants or somewhere close to it, are they all really going to be queuing out the Melwood carpark to bang on Ian Ayre's door demanding more money? I think it's bollox

[Scottbot]

Fair enough that sterling is young but both sides have got to be looked at.

2 years ago he was a kid looking to break in to the side and suddenly this season he is leading the line for us. His ability doesn't deserve that responsibility but that didn't stop the club from placing it upon him. His agent is more than likely looking for him to be paid in accordance with similar players who hold similar positions in other big clubs. Personally I think he is being offered more than enough to sign on and is happy here but he pays an agent to manage his career and make these decisions for him. Thats the bottom line and if he has being courting interest from other clubs then he will hold out till he gets a top deal. This is football and the fact that he has only a year left puts the ball firmly in his and the agents court.

There is a problem within our club though and how player contracts are being managed. He isn't the only one who has hit a stalemate when it comes to negoitiating a new deal.They seem to have an approach of you will take what your given and as a result agents arrive in full armour. This makes it very hard to keep these talented players and build a side that can go on and win a league as we will always be replacing our better players and rebuilding. We are going to become the Ajax of the premier league.

Exactly mate, look at the cooking mess they made with the skippers contract. He got back from the World Cup emotionally drained and heartbroken at another shoddy tournament for England. He quit international football to focus on LFC and yet they didn't actually get the contract proceedings moving UNTIl Gerrard was pestered by the press and eventually had to concede that the club had yet to raise the subject, and this was in November. It showed a total and utter lack of class or know how. Obviously Sterling is the big one and then we've got our supposed future Captain with just a year remaining on his deal and no sign of him signing.

Big clubs do not act like this. They get this sort of thing sorted quickly, quietly and efficiently.

Are we a big club?

[RedAnt]

Good points, Scott.

But let's not forget that Sterling has improved massively in his time with us. He started as a winger but has much more to his game thanks to LFC coaching. So the club would be entitled to ask for something in the £40m mark whilst on the other side of the coin retaining a reasonable pay structure. He's 19 (?) and if we give him £100k now how much would his next pay rise be? And how long before it rises beyond our means?

[red till i die!!]

Fair enough that sterling is young but both sides have got to be looked at.

2 years ago he was a kid looking to break in to the side and suddenly this season he is leading the line for us. His ability doesn't deserve that responsibility but that didn't stop the club from placing it upon him. His agent is more than likely looking for him to be paid in accordance with similar players who hold similar positions in other big clubs. Personally I think he is being offered more than enough to sign on and is happy here but he pays an agent to manage his career and make these decisions for him. Thats the bottom line and if he has being courting interest from other clubs then he will hold out till he gets a top deal. This is football and the fact that he has only a year left puts the ball firmly in his and the agents court.

There is a problem within our club though and how player contracts are being managed. He isn't the only one who has hit a stalemate when it comes to negoitiating a new deal.They seem to have an approach of you will take what your given and as a result agents arrive in full armour. This makes it very hard to keep these talented players and build a side that can go on and win a league as we will always be replacing our better players and rebuilding. We are going to become the Ajax of the premier league.

Exactly mate, look at the cooking mess they made with the skippers contract. He got back from the World Cup emotionally drained and heartbroken at another shoddy tournament for England. He quit international football to focus on LFC and yet they didn't actually get the contract proceedings moving UNTIl Gerrard was pestered by the press and eventually had to concede that the club had yet to raise the subject, and this was in November. It showed a total and utter lack of class or know how. Obviously Sterling is the big one and then we've got our supposed future Captain with just a year remaining on his deal and no sign of him signing.

Big clubs do not act like this. They get this sort of thing sorted quickly, quietly and efficiently.

Are we a big club?

We are one of the biggest clubs on the planet mate  Not many can boast filling a 90+ thousand seater on the other side of the world. According to deloitte and forbes we are no 10 in the richest club league.

Since they changes the structure of the club 3 years ago this embarrassing krap has become the norm. They want a team so young so they don't have to pay them, They pay what "they feel the player is worth" which is always going to go pear shaped due to the business it is. Loads will argue the pay structure is so important and that anyone looking to disrupt that has a cheek because its a disgusting amount.  What they earn is disgusting but not in the industry they work in which is the main factor. By the time a player hits 24 he has about 8 years max left earning potential from the game and how much he earns depends on how good he is.

Sooner or later they are all going to want it and I think the club is extremely naive to think they won't. Its sterling and henderson now and all it will take is a club to inquire about coutinho and it will be him.

Todays mirror is saying that senior anfield sources have confirmed that sterling has turned down a 3rd offer worth " six figures". They also said yesterday the Kop boss hinted that the key to keeping sterling happy will be money and that the winger will be on his way despite having over two years remaining. Dragging this kind of stuff through the media is only going to make matters worse by calling the player out and notifying every suitor of his situation.