This time last season Liverpool were still in with a shout of winning the Premier League, but 12 months on their main preoccupations going into the final week of the season are securing a place in the top six and the future of Raheem Sterling, who reportedly wants out of Anfield.
It is a worrying step backwards for the Reds, who find themselves in a similar situation to the one they were in two years ago, says James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo. The club "have been here before. No Champions League football on the agenda and a star player desperately trying to engineer a move away from Anfield." Back then it was Luis Suarez who wanted to leave. But Liverpool refused to let him go and the following season he spearheaded their title charge.
So how should the Reds handle Sterling?
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Get tough
"With Suarez the tough love worked a treat," says Pearce. "Banished to train on his own, he ended up knuckling down, signing a new contract and producing the best football of his career as he fired Liverpool to within touching distance of the title."
Quite whether that will work with Sterling remains to be seen, but Liverpool do have the upper hand in negotiations.
"No amount of feet stamping will change the fact Sterling still has two years left on his contract and faces the obstacle of a Liverpool owner with an aversion to blinking during negotiations," says Chris Bascombe of the Daily Telegraph.
"Fenway Sports Group, whose main armoury is usually a calculator, have already worked out they won't lose so much if they hold Sterling to his current £35,000 a week for one more year. If the player then decides to sit tight until that expires in order to leave for free, the financial loss will be his as much as his club's."
Compromise
Sterling was furious when details of the contract he had turned down were made public and since then the positions of the player and club have become "increasingly entrenched", says Tony Barrett of The Times.
Compromise is not out of the question, however, and Liverpool "hope that the face-to-face meeting will give both sides an opportunity to clear the air and start afresh", he says. "Having agreed a new contract with Jordan Henderson, the club are looking to do the same with Sterling, although the strong likelihood is that they would have to increase their last offer significantly for that even to be considered."
Wait for offers
The player has been linked with a host of different clubs, but, as Barrett notes, "Liverpool have yet to receive any offers for the 20-year-old and insist they would reject a bid if one is forthcoming".
But money talks, says James Pearce of the Echo. "An offer in excess of £45m could test that refusal to do business," he says. "But what's clear is that if Sterling does leave Anfield this summer it will be on Liverpool's terms."
That leaves the ball in the court of those who covet Sterling, says Chris Bascombe of the Telegraph. It is down to Manchester City, "or whoever else thinks so highly of Sterling they will pursue him during this transfer window", to make a move that could end up costing them as much as £85m.
Is he worth it?
Aside from the politics and the finance there is the issue of whether Sterling is worth fighting for. He has failed to convince the Liverpool Echo on that front. "Since when does a 20-year-old rookie have a divine right to play in the Champions League?" asks James Pearce. "He was given that stage to perform on by Liverpool this season and failed to deliver."
He also "flopped embarrassingly in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley", which all goes to prove that he is no Luis Suarez. "His importance to Liverpool is nothing like Suarez's two years ago," says Pearce.
He may have potential, says Mike Calvin of BT Sport, but "it would be rash to build a team around him at this critical stage of Liverpool's development".
But what about Liverpool's reputation?
Sterling's main weapon in negotiations would appear to be his ability to damage his currently employers' reputation by treating the club as a stepping stone.
"Players have wanted out of Anfield before (with increasing regularity) and it is a reflection of the times that so many are now passing through Merseyside," says Chris Bascombe of the Telegraph. "Whether it is Sterling, Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres, Javier Mascherano or Xabi Alonso, Liverpool has to start looking at how it is functioning and recognise its image of itself as one of Europe's elite has been eroded. What used to be the ultimate destination is now a pitstop."
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TAGS: Rahemm Sterling, Liverpool FC, Luis Suarez, Fenway Sports Group
