Sterling has rejected a second contract offer from Liverpool.

[dantes]

It's not about what he deserves in wages, but what his valuation is as an asset on the club's balance sheet. We are haggling over an extra 20k a week / £3m over three years, completely oblivious to the fact there is a £100m transfer fee waiting for us in year three. Short-sighted and embarrassing sums it up.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

Someone should just run a Kickstarter campaign to raise that additional 3M and get it over with.

 

[Markeh]

Probably the best or most important player at the club at the moment, if there's anyone with maybe the exception if Gerrard getting paid more than what he is offered then he probably has a right to grumble.

I don't like kids asking for so much money but Raheem and his representatives are in a strong position. Are Coutinho and Henderson going to expect over 100,000 a week now too?

 

[gkmacca]

I don't blame his agent for pushing for more, but for a player of Raheem's age there needs to be the prospect of earning more on a season to season basis, partly dependent on performance and success. The club shouldn't just make him a top earner immediately. The only place to go after that, in a season or two, is elsewhere. He's still got lots to learn.

 

[dantes]

Probably the best or most important player at the club at the moment, if there's anyone with maybe the exception if Gerrard getting paid more than what he is offered then he probably has a right to grumble.

I don't like kids asking for so much money but Raheem and his representatives are in a strong position. Are Coutinho and Henderson going to expect over 100,000 a week now too?

Henderson won't find a richer club than us willing to employ him, so he isn't in a strong negotiating position. Coutinho is likely to become the highest earner at the club in a few years as everyone will want him.

 

[peterhague]

Funny how when it's bad news, everyone just assumes the unsubstantiated story from an unreliable rag is true.

 

[Frogfish]

Hmm. Not sure he'd walk into an attack containing Silva, Nasri, Navas, Toure, Aguero and Dzeko. Likewise Costa, Fabregas, Hazard, Oscar and Willian.
4 goals and an assist in the league is not worth 100k per week. Again, I'd say it's about investing on the potential of his development.

I've crossed off all those you can't really compare him to since he isn't a striker or an out and out MFer. From the rest I'd only take Silva & Hazard ahead of him .. i.e. those on £150-200k per week !

 

[Frogfish]

I don't blame his agent for pushing for more, but for a player of Raheem's age there needs to be the prospect of earning more on a season to season basis, partly dependent on performance and success. The club shouldn't just make him a top earner immediately. The only place to go after that, in a season or two, is elsewhere. He's still got lots to learn.

Or the alternative view is that it frightens off everyone but the Reals and Barcas of this world .. and even then they'd still have to prefer him to whowever else is out there.

 

[Markeh]

Henderson won't find a richer club than us willing to employ him, so he isn't in a strong negotiating position. Coutinho is likely to become the highest earner at the club in a few years as everyone will want him.

That's guessing Hendersons standing in the game and ability won't improve where Coutinhos will. Imo City would take the English Liverpool captain and pay him a lot more than we would, Lescott was and Milner is on over 90,000 a week there.

 

[mark1975]

He'll get his money, it's haggling, ain't it?

 

[gkmacca]

Or the alternative view is that it frightens off everyone but the Reals and Barcas of this world .. and even then they'd still have to prefer him to whowever else is out there.

I was hardly concerned a bid from Brighton would come in.

 

[Frogfish]

Much lower than what, Froggy? Sterling's barely out of footballing nappies and already he's on £70k a week. I'm afraid I don't share your confidence that he'd walk into the Chelsea or Citeh sides (not to mention if he went abroad) and, if he didn't, it could damage his career more than just a bit, whereas if he stays at LFC he's a guaranteed starter and part of a side which is going places. I don't think he and his agents hold all the cards here.

There's already rumours that Real are looking at him. Quite simply if we are prepared to pay Sakho £100k a week (and we are, because that is what he's on) then no-one can tell me that Sterling isn't worth that too. He is, bar none, playing-wise the most important player at the club at the moment.

And age really doesn't come into it. Did anyone cap Messi's salary over the past few years because of his young age when he hit the fast lane (he's still only 24 now) ? I'm not suggesting our Raheem is the new Messi, far from it, but that doesn't mean he's not worth £100k+ because you only have to look at what other clubs are paying their top players to know that the is.

 

[Frogfish]

I was hardly concerned a bid from Brighton would come in.

How about Arsenal then !

 

[themn]

@Frogfish

*pedant alert*

Messi is 27, Froggy.


*pedant alert over*

 

[Jerry Laser]

European Golden Boy.....

The boy deserves a top contract for how he has progressed in such a short space of time.

Players like these don't come about very often.

 

[Hansern]

Funny how when it's bad news, everyone just assumes the unsubstantiated story from an unreliable rag is true.

Yeah, this was my first thought aswell. Its from the Mirror and probably bollocks.
Rodgers comments suggested this will be signed in the near future.

 

[dantes]

That's guessing Hendersons standing in the game and ability won't improve where Coutinhos will. Imo City would take the English Liverpool captain and pay him a lot more than we would, Lescott was and Milner is on over 90,000 a week there.

But Henderson will never ever be worth more than £25m. So if you think about it in terms of the risk/reward ratio, it's not worth paying him an extra £3m unless you think he deserves it. He probably does deserve it though.

But the likes of Coutinho, Sterling and Markovic could easily be worth between £50m - £100m in three years. Even if you pay all three, then its an extra £9m and you only need one of them to reach even a fraction of their potential for it to be worth it.

 

[mark1975]

But Henderson will never ever be worth more than £25m. So if you think about it in terms of the risk/reward ratio, it's not worth paying him an extra £3m unless you think he deserves it. He probably does deserve it though.

But the likes of Coutinho, Sterling and Markovic could easily be worth between £50m - £100m in three years. Even if you pay all three, then its an extra £9m and you only need one of them to reach even a fraction of their potential for it to be worth it.

Yep, it's different types of player, the likes of Henderson are easier to find and arguably more suited to this league, taking nothing away from his contribution, but it's unlikely you'd see him attract any big overseas teams, while he's arguably not the type of player Chelsea would go for. Anything else would be a (relative) sideways step, he'd go to the likes of City or Arsenal for not much different to what we'd be willing to pay him.

Whereas Sterling can go anywhere and probably play anywhere, his main attributes are what people pay money for - he's young, quick, skillful and exciting to watch.

 

[localny]

We don't have room to haggle publicly like this with rivals ready to swoop. He's one of the nations best. We're on the back foot. Agree 125 and save the money elsewhere

 

[mark1975]

We don't have room to haggle publicly like this with rivals ready to swoop. He's one of the nations best. We're on the back foot. Agree 125 and save the money elsewhere

As Carra said, his agent should stop leaking these stories, it's underhanded and if it has the blessing of Sterling, then it's beginning to leave a sour taste.

 

[Buddha]

I don't blame his agent for pushing for more, but for a player of Raheem's age there needs to be the prospect of earning more on a season to season basis, partly dependent on performance and success. The club shouldn't just make him a top earner immediately. The only place to go after that, in a season or two, is elsewhere. He's still got lots to learn.

I'd imagine that's what we're doing and rightly so - we seem big on incentivised contracts nowadays.

It'll get sorted.

 

[localny]

As Carra said, his agent should stop leaking these stories, it's underhanded and if it has the blessing of Sterling, then it's beginning to leave a sour taste.

Agents are not the nicest people, they don't adhere to the norms you mention above. We know that. Plus we are in a weak negotiating spot, with the club underperforming, having lost two big names this year. Do the deal, and move on. He's one of our top talents and with that comes a price. We need to stop thinking like a mid table club in these situations.

We will sell him for a high profit eventually, this is just business as usual.

 

[hmmmmm1]

Typical Liverpool low ball offer.

We will probably end up paying him more than he first asked for

 

[Mamma Mia]

Funny how when it's bad news, everyone just assumes the unsubstantiated story from an unreliable rag is true.

Spot on.

It's obviously true though. We are lowballing him 'cos we're getting Higuain and Lacazette in this week.

 

[Frogfish]

@Frogfish

*pedant alert*

Messi is 27, Froggy.

*pedant alert over*

Ah OK I got his age wrong. Doh ! Point still stands though.

 

[Frogfish]

European Golden Boy.....

The boy deserves a top contract for how he has progressed in such a short space of time.

Players like these don't come about very often.

Is exactly true. If we let Sterling slip through our fingers for the sake of e.g. £3m do those naysayers believe we can pick up someone else of his quality & age for anything like we've put into Sterling + £3m ?

LFC have probably invested in dozens of potential young stars and when one comes to fruition as per young Raheem, are we now willing to throw it away over e.g £3m ? That would be madness that not even Ayre is capable of.

 

[gkmacca]

Spot on.

It's obviously true though. We are lowballing him 'cos we're getting Higuain and Lacazette in this week.

By my count it's in at least four papers and three online news sites, and that's not counting the ones that are merely reporting the other ones, so not really spot on at all. They've been briefed.

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

I'd pay him more than 100k, if that's what it takes to get him tied to a long term contract.

 

[Frogfish]

In theory yes we should speculate to accumulate - but with FFP rules our wage budget is tied to our income, which is below the 2 Manchester teams, Arsenal & Chelsea.

There are high earning players that need to be shifted in order to pay Sterling more.

Easy. Goodbye Johnson (who is on £100k) and hello new RB (who can have Raheem's current wage). Voila !

 

[MaBigTip]

I'd pay him 120K but I wouldn't pay him 180K because its a slippery slope then. Sturridge will then want parity as he is the most important player in our squad, definitely not Sterling. In fact, on the wing I wouldn't cry that much over Coutinho, Lallana or Markovic starting ahead of him. I think Sterling is being overrated in this thread as great as he will be, he is not that special yet. I hope he signs on but it could screw us over for years if we just say yes to whatever he asks for.