With Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling currently embroiling in long-term contract talks with the club, Brendan Rodgers must convince the 20-year-old the club is the best place for him to develop into a superstar.
Sami Mokbel and Dominic King of MailOnline recently laid out the details of the negotiations.
Mokbel claims that: “Brendan Rodgers has identified Sterling as one of the premier young players in Europe. Sterling’s advisors are only right to bide their time over ensuring they secure the best possible deal for their client.”
Continuing Mokbel‘s point, King details: “Sterling’s advisors are playing hard and are looking to secure the absolute maximum for their client. At the moment they have reached deadlock.”
King suggests that Liverpool’s offer is “close to £100,000 per week.”
With Real Madrid and Chelsea reportedly circling, according to the Express‘ James Dickenson, Liverpool need to find a resolution.
But Sterling would be wise to stay with Liverpool and continue his progression.
Raheem Sterling: The Player
There is no surprise Sterling’s representatives are pushing for the best deal possible at Liverpool, given the forward’s performances.
At the end of 2014, Sterling’s talent was recognised with his winning the European Golden Boy award for his achievements in the past year, ahead of the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Munir El Haddai and Domenico Berardi, as well as Reds teammates Lazar Markovic and Divock Origi.
This attests to Sterling being the best young talent in European football, and his performances this season have continued this output.
He has scored the second-most goals (six) of any player aged 20 or under in any of Europe’s top five leagues—Berardi is first, with seven.
He has made the fourth-highest average of key passes per game (2.05) of any player aged 20 or under in any of Europe’s top five leagues to have played five or more games, behind only Bayer Leverkusen‘s Julian Brandt (2.08), AS Monaco midfielder Bernardo Silva (2.1) and Inter Milan man Kovacic (2.16).
Sterling has proven the most clinical in this regard, with the most assists (seven) of any player aged 20 or under in any of Europe’s top five leagues.
But it is not only as a young player that Sterling can be judged—his contemporaries are at the high end of the European footballing scale.
Sterling is level with Franck Ribery, Alexis Sanchez, Arjen Robben, James Rodriguez, Oscar, Thomas Muller, Carlos Tevez and Toni Kroos, among others, this season in terms of assists.
Furthermore, he has recorded the eighth-most key passes (51) in the Premier League this season, behind only Alexis Sanchez (52), David Silva (53), Cesc Fabregas (53), Dusan Tadic (54), Stewart Downing (60), Christian Eriksen (63) and Eden Hazard (68).
Sterling is already an elite talent, and this has drawn premature comparisons with Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
For example, Paul Scholes wrote in his column for The Independent: “I see him as one of those brave wingers, a tough kid who gets kicked and then picks himself up again. He gets on with it and does not hide on the pitch, a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo once did at Manchester United.
Rodgers himself claimed in November of last year, via Simon Mullock of the Mirror, that: “At 19, Raheem has had a similar impact on the game to Ronaldo at the same age.”
Perhaps most fundamentally at present, Sterling has scored more goals (six), made more assists (seven, joint with Jordan Henderson) and made more key passes (51) than any Liverpool player in the Premier League this season.
He can play in a wide variety of positions and has invaluable European and international experience at a very young age.
Sterling is incredibly important to Liverpool, but is that dependence reciprocal?
Brendan Rodgers, and Sterling: The Person
Rodgers continued his Sterling-Ronaldo comparison by outlining just how the 20-year-old can reach the level of his Madrid counterpart.
“Now it’s about Raheem going to the next level. The first part of the learning curve is getting into the team and establishing yourself as a player and earning respect,” Rodgers declared. “Raheem has done that—and now hopefully he will move on to the next level like Ronaldo did.”
Rodgers continued to declare, “Raheem certainly won’t find a better role model…[Ronaldo] is an incredible player and a great, great professional.”
This underlines Rodgers’ role in Sterling’s development—the Reds boss is best placed to nurture the forward’s progress, and this is one of the main reasons why Liverpool is the perfect place for him.
Ever since his strong rebuttal of a 17-year-old Sterling in his first pre-season as Liverpool manager, Rodgers has played a heavy part in his development.
This extends from Rodgers’ heavy emphasis of youth development at the club, as detailed by Liverpool Academy Director Alex Inglethorpe in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Karl Machett in December:
He is quite unique in that he knows the names of all the scholars in our system and often asks how certain individuals are progressing. The first-team staff are equally supportive with the Academy. John Achterberg, Mike Marsh and Colin Pascoe are all frequent visitors to games at the Academy. You will often find them all watching any game from the formative age groups right the way through to the 21s. Their expertise and opinion is both valuable to staff and inspirational to the younger players.
Under Rodgers, the likes of Jordon Ibe, Sheyi Ojo, Jordan Rossiter and Jordan Williams have all seen some form of first-team action this season, while the average age of the Liverpool squad currently stands at just 25.9, according to Transfermarkt.com.
Rodgers’ belief, outlined in interview with The Anfield Wrap in 2012, is that “a young player will run through a barbed-wire fence for you.”
No young player has shown more determination to succeed at Liverpool, and that is largely due to Rodgers’ careful man-management and stimulation.
Rodgers continued that he was trying to “keep [Sterling] out of the media,” and this has been invaluable.
Rodgers has identified that Sterling is a player who needs to be protected, and the development of the forward under the Liverpool manager is a testament to this approach.
The Contract
Last month, Rodgers outlined the current terms on offer to Sterling within the club’s protracted negotiations, via BBC Sport.
“The club has offered an incredible deal for a young player,” Rodgers said, before adding an important caveat: “[But] if they get too much, too young then it really sabotages their development.”
This is a continuation of Rodgers’ protection of Sterling.
While the player’s agent may be pushing for an astronomical fee, as The Telegraph‘s Chris Bascombe alluded to in interview with Anfield HQ (h/t This is Anfield), Rodgers’ approach to Sterling’s contract situation is characteristically rational.
“It is very important for young players, not just Raheem, that they have something to strive for,” Rodgers continued. “If they are given sound advice they will see that. It is about mapping out the career of a player. It is not just about this deal.”
In short, Rodgers doesn’t want to Sterling to go the way of Alexandre Pato, for example, who faded dreadfully after a big-money move to AC Milan as an 18-year-old.
Sterling’s prospective Madrid teammate Gareth Bale could even serve as prime evidence that this move wouldn’t be the right one, with crowd criticism and the demands of the environment affecting his performance, according to Sky Sports.
If a 20-year-old Sterling is given a contract worth “north of £120,000 a week,” as Bascombe reveals, where is the motivation to progress?
Rodgers evaluated Sterling’s contract situation by proffering: “We believe this will be the best place for him and I believe he knows that as well.”
As has already been proven, Liverpool is the perfect place for Raheem Sterling to develop into a superstar.
Statistics via WhoScored.com and Squawka.com.
from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1aZANzC
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J
INTER CLUB PAVIA "C'E' SOLO L'INTER" 