As Liverpool brace themselves for a third and probable final bid for Raheem Sterling. Reports have now emerged that his agent Aidy Ward has cut a deal with the player himself in order to lure him away from Anfield. It has been widely suggested that agent Ward has offered Sterling 50% of his own fee which is usually around 10% of any sale. The amount of money in question could see the 20-year old bank up to £4m of what would ultimately be Aidy Ward's own money.
It's Incredible and even to a certain extent sickening how Aidy Ward is using and manipulating Europe’s most promising young footballer. Without a shadow of a doubt, Aidy Ward sees Raheem Sterling as a once in a lifetime money making product. Wielding the sale of the England youngster would financially set him up for life.
How much does he actually care about Raheem's footballing career? How can this man take on Liverpool Football Club and publicly insult Liverpool Legend Jamie Carragher? Finally, how desperate is this unprofessional businessman? These are the questions running through my mind right now as this unpleasant transfer saga draws to its close.
Regarding how desperate Aidy Ward actually is; offering a 20-year old kid, who comes from a poverty stricken background financial incentives worth millions of pounds, ultimately setting up his own family financially for life, in theory should be a no brainier for Sterling. Raheem is not a Liverpool fan (he grew up supporting Manchester United) and has no emotional ties to the club. His mum lives in London and his daughter is not getting brought up in the city.
Aidy Ward is a selfish, greedy individual who has the sole interest of seeing heaps of “Sterlings" on his own table rather than assisting a potentially world class player to develop his career on the pitch. It doesn't take rocket science to work out what their game is. As a dedicated and passionate Liverpool fan, I'm saddened that my club has to deal with such distractions going into preseason.
I strongly believe, now that Fenway Sports Group " have dug deep into their pockets" as Stevie stated after his farewell game at Anfield and provide us with more than a sufficient transfer kitty, then in my opinion there is no need to cash in on Raheem Sterling.
The only way to stop this is by making a statement. This is Liverpool Football Club. Shankly's club. Yes, Raheem is good but he is not world class yet and certainly is not in the same league Luis Suárez was at the time of requesting and demanding ridiculous amounts of money and insisting everything is done on his terms.
As I've mentioned, his agent and advisors are clearly not working in his best interests as a player. Nonetheless, losing a talent, a potential world class talent that Liverpool have nurtured since he arrived from QPR as a 15-year-old kid would be giving out all the wrong messages with regards to where the club is at. Not only to our rivals but for potential signings who are mulling over joining Liverpool Football Club or not. Letting this type of player go isn't what Brendan Rodgers should be doing, not yet anyway.
It's obvious; Raheem is not looking for a move abroad and is keen to carry on playing in the Premier League, with London or Manchester being his preferred destinations. He would not want to be too far away from his mum, who now lives in the capital, nor his daughter, Melody Rose, who he already sees a lot less of than he would like.
I am sick of football players refusing to respect their contracts and along with their agents think they have the run of the green, showing little respect to their clubs, forcing them to give in and surrender to their greedy demands. Liverpool Football Club should always be pulling the strings no matter who you are. Especially, when dealing with a 20-year old kid and his half-wit agent wishing to take on the Club. It's ridiculous that it has even got this far!
My proposal to deal with this current situation would be; Ok, fair enough if Raheem doesn't want to renew his current contract at Liverpool then nobody's going to hold a gun to his head until he does so. However, let's not make it that easy for him either. At the moment, he's earning £35,000 a week and has already turned down a £100,000 a week contract which is a 186% wage increase. Ludicrous really isn't it?
Let's just say hypothetically that he did sign for that amount and played out the last two years of his current contract of £35,000 a week. Liverpool would be saving £65,000 a week for two years on wages which would be around £7 million.
This small amount does not sound that much if he eventually leaves on a free, but this way would also give Brendan Rodgers two more years to add, build and improve his squad which Raheem would play a major role in. If Brendan finally delivers success then Raheem could quite easily turn round and say, "Go on then", and sign a long term deal with Liverpool.
Realistically, Rodgers only has one more year to improve the club's current situation. Therefore, if the “Gaffa” does go at the end of next season, still with one year to go on Raheem's contract, then his replacement and new faces might be enough in itself to persuade Raheem to stay.
Let's not overlook, that we only paid £600,000 for Raheem five years ago. So, if we take the figure of £7 million mentioned before, again hypothetically speaking, which ever way you want to look at it, we would still have made or saved around £6 million. Of course, that's if we decide to keep him on a low wage contract which would be seen more as a punishment. However, a rightly deserved punishment after the lack of respect he has shown the club.
Additionally, as Raheem's contract will expire when he is still less than 23 years' of age, he won't be allowed to leave on a free. Similar to what Liverpool are going through with Danny Ings at the moment. Any club interested in acquiring his services when his current contract expires will be made to pay Liverpool compensation for developing him. A tribunal will decide how much Liverpool would be entitled to. This figure is constantly growing and maybe in a couple of years’ time, Liverpool could receive around £15-£20.
When it all boils down to it, Liverpool Football club should never be seen to be a feeder club nor sell players to their direct rivals who can get into their own starting XI. Especially, with the lads we have brought through our very own academy who have learnt the game "the Liverpool way".
Let's see how this one pans out as a cash deal wouldn't really interest Liverpool. 20% of any sale to an English club goes straight into QPR's bank account. That figure could also reach 25% if Raheem was sold abroad.
This situation epitomises modern football in a nutshell. Greed and wealth are finally taking over. The traditions of our once beautiful game are starting to become secondary and even lost amongst the desire to profit from its success. When and how will this all end?
No comments:
Post a Comment