Does Raheem really deserve an increase in pounds Sterling?

By Emmanuel Phillips

Does Raheem Sterling really deserve parity with Daniel Sturridge?  It seems £100,000 per week is too low for the England International despite a £65,000 per week pay hike.

Since taking over from Hicks and Gillet, John W Henry and his Fenway Sports Group cohorts have placed a firm hand on the tiller implementing financial controls inside Liverpool Football Club to pull it back from brink of collapse.

It’s meant a lot of soul searching in moving on older players and instilling a belief system in young players coming through the ranks, bringing in players like Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge who career wise had failed to fulfil their promise and implement a style of play which means that pace, skill and technique are the key ingredients throughout the club.

Sturridge is a top quality goal scorer and in a sport where goal scorers pay the rent heads the pay scales.

With Suarez having moved on the ex-Chelsea and Man City forward was the automatic selection to be Anfield’s new King.   But, as good as Sturridge undoubtedly is as a striker and very skilful footballer, the one thing missing from his make-up is a robustness to get through a progranme of games without injury.  His Liverpool career has so far been littered with finicky injuries (14 at the last count) and Brendan Rodgers will have to buy-in some top class support and cover.

Sturridge’s problems this season have hastened the progress of Sterling with the youngster exhibiting talents in a multitude of positions and literally carrying Liverpool on his shoulders in the first half of the season.

The difficulty for the club is that they on the verge of breaking through to the top table with Europe’s elite clubs and cannot afford to let Sterling move on.   The football club doesn’t want to be a hostage to fortune, but the player and his advisers know they hold all the aces which is almost certainly the reason why contract negotiations are on the back burner until the end of the season.

It’s a fallacy that a destructive talent like Sterling is often asked to play at wing-back when a position more further up the pitch or centrally seems s better fit, but on the other hand should Raheem not play where he is asked?

In the last decade Liverpool have lost a succession of top players, but to lose a player they have groomed from the age of 15 would be a hammer blow.  We have struggled to buy top class players over the years, thus the loss of Sterling is incalculable to our future and even a transfer fee of £70 -80 million sends out the wrong signals.

The answer is yes, like it or not, Liverpool have to pay the player what he wants because in terms of ability it will cost much more to replace a player who will only improve and the thinking should be to improve the squad with top class players to play alongside him.

The transfer committee’s policy has brought Liverpool close to success without the celebratory cigar and Champions League football is a key ingredient for the club to remain on target and continue to be a cogent force in enticing world-class players to the club.

It is imperative that Champion’s League qualification is achieved.  If not, then the likes of Sterling, Henderson and Coutinho must stay at the club and if that means paying top dollar to achieve it then so be it.   In addition, with a fit Daniel Sturridge this is Liverpool’s future and I believe the board must change the dynamic and increase the parameters of their transfer policy to add world class talent to the core we already have the club.

The loss to Man United was a devastating blow.  It put us firmly on the back foot and as a consequence we are now without Gerrard, Skrtel and Sturridge going forward which once again puts into focus just how much we rely on the talented feet of Sterling who will now probably lead the line until the end of the season which says a lot about the supporting cast of Balotelli, Lambert and Borini.