Talking Football: Could Man City move ruin Raheem Sterling’s career?

Raheem Sterling is undoubtedly one of England’s most promising players – he has shone for Liverpool in the past couple of seasons. At the age of 20, Sterling has been a regular starter for Liverpool for the past two seasons, as-well as making 16 appearances for England’s first team.

At only 18, Sterling had signed an improved £30,000-a-week deal, £28,000 more a week than his original. But in recent months, Sterling had rejected a £100,000-a-week deal from Liverpool, causing controversy and anger among Liverpool supporters.

As clubs from all over Europe heard him rejecting a new contract, was it in any doubt that England’s financial giants Manchester City would be interested in capturing the young star?

Recently, Manchester City have increased their pursuit to land the England player, originally offering £30m, increasing it to £40m and now reportedly a staggering £50m.

But if this deal goes through, how will it actually benefit both Manchester City and Sterling?

Over the past few years, England have had some promising talent emerging, including players such as Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair. After showing their potential, both were signed by Manchester City in 2012.

Both players had a lot to live upto at City, who had won the Premier League the previous season. Unfortunately, they both failed to live up to their reputations at City.

Rodwell made a measly 16 appearances in two seasons for City before he was shipped out to Sunderland in 2014. Sinclair was sent out on loan after just one season before permanently securing a deal away from the Etihad in 2015, signing for Aston Villa.

In three seasons, Sinclair made just three starts for the club and made 13 appearances in total.

Many football fans, not only the Liverpool faithful, will be wondering why Sterling would turn down such a huge contract from one of the world’s biggest football clubs and risk moving to a club where he may not feature regularly.

Former Liverpool defender and club legend Jamie Carragher brands the situation a ‘disgrace’ and insists Sterling and his agent shouldn’t be worried about the money as Liverpool is the best place to be for his development. Sterling claims he isn’t a ‘money-grabber’, which questions why he rejected Liverpool’s offer.

It is not only Manchester City who are eyeing up Sterling’s signature: the worlds biggest clubs such as Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain would reportedly like to snatch him up. Now Chelsea, too, are said to be interested. Yet, City seem to be the only team to make a formal offer for the Liverpool player.

If the move to City happens, how will it really benefit Sterling? Will he add to the list of City’s English flops or could he shine in a sky-blue shirt?

By Ben Pett

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