Raheem Sterling

[DannyMan2006]

How good is Sterling? Well put it this way, if he was 28 years old people would want him replaced. It's all about his potential. That comes from managing expectations.

People saying he's worth 40k a week. I guarantee that if we were offering that, and he wanted 60k, people would say he's worth 60k a week.

And just because Downing is on about 60k, that doesn't make Sterling worth that. Because Downing isn't worth that amount.

We bought Downing as an experienced premiership & international player. That's why he got 60k or so. He hasn't performed like one, but neither has Sterling. He's been average most games.

If we cave into his demands, every youth player we have doing okay will try it on. Tell him to wind his neck in.

If in January we signed Walcott & Sturridge for example, he'd be on the bench as he's not in the same league as those two yet.

[saj]

This is a very tricky situation.

Are we a feeder club? If we let him go then we risk setting the expectation that we are willing to let our best young players go for very little. If we promote youth to do a mans job then frankly, we ought to pay them for it if they're doing it successfully.

If we've offered 20 rising in 5k increments per year he'll still end up, in 5 yrs on less than downing. That's not very palatable tbh if he's already taken his place. If he wants to be on the same as them immediately and he's being offered that elsewhere then we have to get very close or he'll go.

I'd probably offer him 20, rising in 10k increments to leave him on 70 in 5yrs time which will give him an extra mill over the life of the contract. That reflects the kind of trajectory we want for him and we'll be helping him get there. I'd build some performance related criteria for getting the increments tho. If thats not high enough to start with i'd probably go 32.5k and up by 5k over 5yrs

What the ****? Are you kidding? Who has ever been offered a contract like that

most sensible approach to get him to sign and ensure he stays for the immediate future.

How is that sensible? In 5 years time he could be totally useless and be sent out on loan to Bury or something and he would be getting paid £70k a week for being on loan. Even Suarez a proven World Class player which he was when he was signed was on less than £50k. It's only after he proved himself that he got the extension and ended up on more. What has Sterling done to prove he is on £70k a week? He is not even worth £20k yet. I fully agree with El Matador on this one - being called up by England has not helped matters at. **** him and his agent IF he does end up leaving. The losses of Alonso and Torres hurt a lot - with Sterling I wouldn't really care (assuming he is being greedy)

[Cormack74]

Just caught a bit of Matt Scott (journo) talking on TS.

Said that Arse are interested in RS (something along the lines that Grazidis had told him).

[yamiedo]

How good is Sterling? Well put it this way, if he was 28 years old people would want him replaced. It's all about his potential. That comes from managing expectations.

People saying he's worth 40k a week. I guarantee that if we were offering that, and he wanted 60k, people would say he's worth 60k a week.

And just because Downing is on about 60k, that doesn't make Sterling worth that. Because Downing isn't worth that amount.

We bought Downing as an experienced premiership & international player. That's why he got 60k or so. He hasn't performed like one, but neither has Sterling. He's been average most games.

If we cave into his demands, every youth player we have doing okay will try it on. Tell him to wind his neck in.

If in January we signed Walcott & Sturridge for example, he'd be on the bench as he's not in the same league as those two yet.

I'd say he has been better than average and at times has even been a standout performer in matches. I think he's at about 4 assists now but don't quote me on that. I see what your saying but I'd say he is in the team on merit and his current level is a higher standard than Downing. I think he needs to be rotated more with the likes of Assaidi but I still think with the current squad we have, Sterling is one of our better performers.

[Neil Young]

Just caught a bit of Matt Scott (journo) talking on TS.

Said that Arse are interested in RS (something along the lines that Grazidis had told him).

I daresay all the top clubs are sniffing around him.

[yamiedo]

I daresay all the top clubs are sniffing around him.

I bet Wenger does a lot of sniffing. He looks like the type who would sniff underwear. He always has a look of mild disgust on his face.

[Rich]

Sterling holds all the aces - if he's being advised that he can earn £50k a week by joining City or Arsenal then that puts us in a very difficult position.

He's almost 18 and might never fulfil his potential - injuries & going off the rails.

Personally, I'm happy if we're offering this sliding scale £20k per week rising to £45k per week - that sounds like a serious reward and acknowledgement of his worth to us.

Chasing the money so young is a bad sign IMO.

[The_weatherman]

I'd say he has been better than average and at times has even been a standout performer in matches. I think he's at about 4 assists now but don't quote me on that. I see what your saying but I'd say he is in the team on merit and his current level is a higher standard than Downing. I think he needs to be rotated more with the likes of Assaidi but I still think with the current squad we have, Sterling is one of our better performers.

He is one of the first names on the team sheet in attack, so I'd say he's a valuable squad member already, if he goes we'll end up signing a replacement for 5-10 million and on 30-60k a week.

[el matador]

if he doesnt sign sell him for £30m.

he's only got to look at people like oxlade chamberlain, scott sinclair, henderson.

good young players who arent first team regulars or in sinclairs case dont even make matchday squads but earn big money.

[saj]

if he doesnt sign sell him for £30m.

he's only got to look at people like oxlade chamberlain, scott sinclair, henderson.

good young players who arent first team regulars or in sinclairs case dont even make matchday squads but earn big money.

I guess that is a joke. He's not worth more than £5m, maybe £10m with add ons

[RichC]

if he doesnt sign sell him for £30m.

he's only got to look at people like oxlade chamberlain, scott sinclair, henderson.

good young players who arent first team regulars or in sinclairs case dont even make matchday squads but earn big money.

Ummm if he doesn't sign we can't do that. He will be able to walk out and we'll probably get compensation set by a tribunal

[Leyton388]

We are liverpool. Of course we will **** this up.

[kalesh]

Surely the best way to keep his feet on the ground would be to give him a modest basic salary (whatever that is) with significant bonuses based on appearances, assists and goals? It then gives him the incentive to keep performing. We’ve already proven that we’re willing to put him in the team, so this would shift the initiative to Sterling to prove he’s worth it. We can even give assurances that in 1 or 2 years we’ll review the contract, like we did with Meireles (but this time we’ll stick to it).

[Leyton388]

With City, Chelsea and no doubt the mancs snifffing around a modest basic wage will have no effect when his agent is filling his head with big money offers.

[Tribute]

He is one of the first names on the team sheet in attack, so I'd say he's a valuable squad member already, if he goes we'll end up signing a [edit - worse] replacement for 5-10 million and on 30-60k a week.

...this is a great point. You don't know what you have until it's gone. Never more so than in this case. Ironically, completely the opposite situation we have with Downing, Cole, Carroll and Henderson