Raheem Sterling

[Kenneth]

Fighting for third or fourth is where the club is and where it will be in a couple of years, whatever we do with contracts. That's our level in the context of our rivals being considerably richer than us.

[Lecter]

http://www.newstylesports.com/manche...-contract.html

Not a chance he's on £200k a week

Those figures are well well wide of the mark

For a start Shaw is on £100K per week, that was reported everywhere when the deal was going through and the Telegraph was only using it last month as a reason for Sterling knocking back our £70K offer

Also Tyler Blackett was reportedly offered £50K per week before Christmas!!!!

Wellbeck was earning £90K per week there (hes reportedly on £105K per week at Arsenal)!!

Uniteds wage budget is out of control, they have completely spunked money in order to attract players

Remember a lot of these lads came from Champions League clubs and as such there has had to have been an extra carrot dangled to get them to come. Its very reminiscent of how our wage budget spiralled out of control in the past

[Vermilion]

Fighting for third or fourth is where the club is and where it will be in a couple of years, whatever we do with contracts. That's our level in the context of our rivals being considerably richer than us.

Hmmm, last season was just my imagination then ?

Take away a bad start to this season too, which could easily have been possible, and....

Oh ye of little faith!

[Lecter]

Fighting for third or fourth is where the club is and where it will be in a couple of years, whatever we do with contracts. That's our level in the context of our rivals being considerably richer than us.

I dont know you know

Look at the money spent this year by Chelsea, City, United and Arsenal and they arent completely out of sight

Will be very interesting to see where we could end up if we kept this team together

Not keeping it together has two implications for me

Firstly having to go out and sign players of the same or better standard, that wont be cheap and I'd argue that it could be cheaper to give them the contracts they want

Secondly how long will Rodgers put up with the situation if the club cant retain its best players

[Doc_Piptorious]

Interesting. I'm not so sure. Ibe is still very raw and inexperienced. His physicality suggests longevity though.

I think we are all a bit harsh at times on sterling the player. He's 20 now and has played a lot of games and its easy to get frustrated when he chooses the wrong option again. But he plays in positions whereby he has so many options and that's where youngsters often make the wrong one. I'm trying to think of other talents of similar ages and they are all inconsistent. When I think Fowler and Owen, they were ripping it up at his age. However they played in one position. Up front. The choices they had were which side of the net to put it. Apart from Sterling being asked to play in numerous positions, he's also asked to work his arse off for the team. Tiring physically as well as mentally. When he gets it and runs at pace he has to decide, do I take the fullback on, do I pass? When I'm in the box do I shoot or cross or keep it or pass to another. This will all come with experience. It may of course never come and he will go the way of many exciting youngsters. Moving clubs at this stage of his development would surely be a fast track to nowhere. I lose my patience with him during matches. I shouldn't though.

Which young players generally will be. But if we look at some of the recent top young talents who played in similar positions to Sterling (out wide or in either the AM or ST slots) at the age Sterling is now or younger, then the likes of Hazard, Gotze etc were maybe that little bit more consistent than Sterling is when they reached the age of 20. But it is hardly a knock against Sterling to not be as consistent at 20 as those guys were as we could just as easily point at Ronaldo at 20 as an example of a guy who just needed that little bit of time to grow into his undoubted talent.


Do agree with you in that poor on pitch decisions need to be accepted as being an occasional part of Sterling's game whilst he is developing. Every player makes mistakes and younger players should be making more mistakes as they try things and get caught out by more experienced players.

[The_weatherman]

I think we'll be seeing wages going up a level now, generally, if we decide not to follow suit we are deciding to stay at level below. I'd rather increase our wages and cut back on recruitment in order to keep the team together longer. That said, Henderson is the one we should be focusing on, it needs to be sorted as soon as possible IMO. If he's a serious candidate for captaincy we should get it done soon.

[The Birdman]

Sterling's agent Ady Ward is leaving Impact Sports Management to set up on his own as the rules governing agents changes from early April.

http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/more/agents/intermediaries-update

Any deal Sterling signs before then means the agent cut goes to ISM, after then the bulk of it will go direct to Ady Ward.

That is the sole reason for the delay.

I think we'll hear the words 'deal in principle' sometime in April/May with the new contract signed in the summer when a lot of high earners are off the wage bill.

As I've said before, FSG aren't arsed about getting it done early and neither Sterling or Henderson will be sold, they are happy with them on lower deals for longer.

[ChrisDR1968]

This thread is a good example of why the vast majority of football clubs make losses year on year and why Platini brought in FFP.

The vastly inflated new tv deal from Sky and BT Sport will make no difference overall to most clubs as all this extra money will end up in the pockets of agents and mercenary players.

What Platini could do would be to stipulate that clubs are required to make an operating profit of 10% of their turnover (excluding infrastructure spending). He could also lower the percentage of a club's turnover that they spend on player's wages (from around 70% now to around 60%).

Those measures would force clubs to only pay more sensible and sane wages and undercut these rapacious agents.

[Lecter]

This thread is a good example of why the vast majority of football clubs make losses year on year and why Platini brought in FFP.

The vastly inflated new tv deal from Sky and BT Sport will make no difference overall to most clubs as all this extra money will end up in the pockets of agents and mercenary players.

What Platini could do would be to stipulate that clubs are required to make an operating profit of 10% of their turnover (excluding infrastructure spending). He could also lower the percentage of a club's turnover that they spend on player's wages (from around 70% now to around 60%).

Those measures would force clubs to only pay more sensible and sane wages and undercut these rapacious agents.

Sane and sensible are two words that have long since vanished from the football vocabulary

When you have FIFA as the governing body creaming off millions to line their own pockets you cant blame the agents and players for wanting a piece of the action

[The Birdman]

This thread is a good example of why the vast majority of football clubs make losses year on year and why Platini brought in FFP.

The vastly inflated new tv deal from Sky and BT Sport will make no difference overall to most clubs as all this extra money will end up in the pockets of agents and mercenary players.

What Platini could do would be to stipulate that clubs are required to make an operating profit of 10% of their turnover (excluding infrastructure spending). He could also lower the percentage of a club's turnover that they spend on player's wages (from around 70% now to around 60%).

Those measures would force clubs to only pay more sensible and sane wages and undercut these rapacious agents.

Yep 100% right, lowering the % of wages to turnover is an ideal way to do it, let the clubs phase it in over a 3 year period to get down from 70% to 65%, then again from 65 to 60% in the next 2 years.

Mind you, the difference will go on signing on fees or image rights.

[dom9]

And transfer fees.

[Roboklopp]

"Rapacious"- good word, like it.

[Bender]

The Echo’s James Pearce claims the club won’t bow down to the demands of the player’s representatives.

According to Pearce, the Reds’ chief reporter for the Liverpool Echo, the vast wages Sterling’s representatives are demanding will not be met – but he still expects the young star to remain at Anfield.

“I don’t think Liverpool will give in to £150,000 a week. Speaking to people at the club, it’s clear they have no intention to pay him that much,” said Pearce, on AnfieldIndex‘s ‘RedRoom‘ podcast this week.

“I’m baffled as to how his representatives are turning their nose up at £100,000 a week. Sterling is 20 years of age. He’s not a world-class player, and although he’s potentially top class, he’s not yet the finished product.

“I don’t believe that Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are waiting in the wings ready to swoop and pay him what he wants this summer.

“He owes a lot to Brendan Rodgers for making him the player he is. Not many players of his age have played over 100 games for a top club, and if he has any sense he will stay and sign a five-year contract. I believe that will be the case, and that common sense will prevail.”
LINK

[BigChief]

I think Sterling'll stay, the agent's just trying it on but John Henry's seen all this in American sports. Storm in a teacup.

Rodgers is the one with the magical touch and we have the likes of Ojo, Sinclair, Texiera and even Harry Wilson to become the next big things. Not straight replacements for Sterling but stars nevertheless (Ibe is a different beast).

[McDermotX]

A flat 100k is more than generous......more than I'd offer TBH, but its on the edge of being realistic in football's mad world.
He'll probably be off to London etc sooner or later if he continues developing anyway, but his agent, and ultimately him, are completely off their rocker if they refuse in a game of brinkmanship.