The Raheem Sterling Contract Issue is becoming a problem?

Real Madrid plot Raheem Sterling transfer from Liverpool as new contract fails to materialise

The teenage forward has become a key player for the Kop club and England but his £30,000-a-week deal makes him one of the lowest paid in both squads

Real Madrid are stepping up their efforts to sign Raheem Sterling next summer.

The Spanish giants' coach Carlo Ancelotti has put the Liverpool star on top of his hit-list after his stunning form for club and country.

Real have been alerted by the fact that the Reds have yet to tie down Sterling to a long-term contract, and are ready to move for him.

Liverpool appear to be dragging their feet on putting together a new deal for Sterling and that will give foreign clubs major encouragement.

The 19-year-old is currently on a £30,000-a-week package that expires in 2017, and the Kop club were expected to reward his progress with a new deal.

We revealed in April that he was in line for an improved contract after his impressive form for Liverpool, which helped force his way into England’s World Cup set-up.

He is currently one of the lower earners in the Liverpool set-up - and his deal is dwarfed by those of almost all of his England team-mates.
 
But the Reds' boss Brendan Rodgers last month insisted Sterling must wait for a new deal - and that has encouraged the men from the Bernabeu.

Rodgers said: “When you reward young players too quickly – Raheem’s still only 19 – you give them too much too early and that will be their downfall. It’s a big problem because they lose their hunger.”

Liverpool will be anxious not to lose one of their prize assets but the contract will be a concern with big clubs hovering.

Real have cash to spend after selling Angel Di Maria to Manchester United for a British record £59.7million, and have also seen Gareth Bale become a huge success as a Premier League export in Spain since signing him from Tottenham in summer 2013.

The Welshman has even encouraged Sterling to join him at the European champions.

Bale said last week: “If you look at Raheem Sterling, I think he’s shown what a good player he is. He’s starting to perform more consistently.

“If he keeps working hard and doing what he’s doing, then he’s going to keep progressing and the sky is his limit.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/real-madrid-plot-raheem-sterling-4312058#ixzz3EDLCRyI7

This can unsettle the lad. I don't quite agree with Brendan on this if it is true.

He deserves better. Really.

If we talk about people in footballl being given big fat contracts and roles way ahead of their time, then being promoted as some sort of worldbeaters, you only need look at Brendan Rodgers himself.

Sterling's ability and performance is undoubted. Rodgers in comparison is barely past rookie stage.
So I'm surprised that he of all people made the comments about Raheem.

And re a sale to Madrid, nothing would surprise me with the scum we have owning our club. I'm borderline packing it up til January after the shower of sh*t again yesterday.

Now that WE all know he is the least paid in the team and England, Sterling will be at the end of wise cracks from team mates and opposition fans too.

I think he deserves at least £90k per week.

I don't see him going out like Pennant or some other overpaid brat not pulling his weight.

Give the lad a new deal already.

What he earns in a year would take me 38 years to earn, and I'm on a reasonable wage. Plus I don't get any perks like trips to Brazil.

I'm sorry, but footballers are not in the real world.

I'm not having a go at Raheem, as I'd take it, but F***ing hell.....

Now that WE all know he is the least paid in the team and England, Sterling will be at the end of wise cracks from team mates and opposition fans too.

I think he deserves at least £90k per week.

I don't see him going out like Pennant or some other overpaid brat not pulling his weight.

Give the lad a new deal already.

For the potential so blindingly obvious that Raheem has in abundance, to penny-pinch (relatively) on a few grand a week is beyond short sighted, if there is an iota of truth in the tittle-tattle it amounts to a failure to act in the best interests of the club/company/asset.
Of course it could just be tittle-tattle or the need to fill newspace, but why give the vultures a chance to do what they do?
The lad's status and any fee can only improve so any monies spent are recouped - meanwhile LFC reaps the rewards of his awesome skills - and his value increases yet again.

A win win win situation, surely by now the owners caution has been diluted with common sense.

The point that people are missing in this thread is that the story says that Ancelotti has got him on the top of his hit list, well that's bullshit as it Perez who does all the signing and to suggest that RM have a coherent signing policy apart from signing the flavour of the month. Another non story in my book.

The only problem is whether or not Sterling is happy with his wages.  He is still young so earning big money might not be a big deal to him.

If we talk about people in footballl being given big fat contracts and roles way ahead of their time, then being promoted as some sort of worldbeaters, you only need look at Brendan Rodgers himself.

Sterling's ability and performance is undoubted. Rodgers in comparison is barely past rookie stage.
So I'm surprised that he of all people made the comments about Raheem.

And re a sale to Madrid, nothing would surprise me with the scum we have owning our club. I'm borderline packing it up til January after the shower of sh*t again yesterday.

Spot on. Brendan accepted a new and improved offer himself. He is also unproven at this stage.

Brendan's comments are also contradictory to previous statements he has made: "if you are good enough, you are old enough." However, the moment wages come into the equation, Raheem is considered as "still only 19", which implies he is too young. But I thought if you were good enough, you were old enough, right? Or does that only apply where it suits Brendan and the committee themselves? Okay let's say 'just' the committee. We all know Brendan is one of John Henry's puppets in this area of the sport.

The idea of having young talented players at this club is so we can cut down on wages so of course, Raheem demanding wages that compete with the more senior members is something the club wants to avoid. From watching Liverpool this season, Raheem has been our star player. He has taken the initiative at every opportunity. He has been the player his teammates look dependent on.

In terms of footballing ability, Raheem is up there with our best players right now. We shouldn't hesitate to give him an improved contract offer. Right now we are running low on top class talent and Raheem is one of them. We are not in a position where we can afford to lose him. I hope we don't F**k this up.

Pay him what he is worth.

Simple as that for me.

Pay him what he is worth.

Simple as that for me.

What's he worth? £100K a week? £150K? £200K? More? He's 19 so what's he going to be worth in ten years time if he realises his potential? How do you create a realistic pay scale for someone who is by and large, your most talented, most consistently performing player and is only 19 years old? Then there's the structure. What's a player like Raheem worth on the market now? Do you determine it by performances or potential because you're probably going to want a minimum-fee-before-consideration clause in it.

I don't disagree he should be signed on a higher paying contract as a reward for his performances, but it's not as easy as "pay him what he is worth".

What's he worth? £100K a week? £150K? £200K? More? He's 19 so what's he going to be worth in ten years time if he realises his potential? How do you create a realistic pay scale for someone who is by and large, your most talented, most consistently performing player and is only 19 years old? Then there's the structure. What's a player like Raheem worth on the market now? Do you determine it by performances or potential because you're probably going to want a minimum-fee-before-consideration clause in it.

I don't disagree he should be signed on a higher paying contract as a reward for his performances, but it's not as easy as "pay him what he is worth".

I'm sure a wage in our current pay structure would be enough to make him not want to leave in the near future.

If it happens to be near the top end of our scale so be it as he is that good.

This smells of intermingling faeces that we've come to expect from the big two in Spain.

Sounds like age discrimination if u ask me.

Why should a player be worth less if he's younger? If anything, he's worth MORE because he will get even better.
He's our best player and deserves to be paid accordingly.

And no I DONT think Raheem thinks "oh let nice John from Boston have the money instead"..

Sounds like age discrimination if u ask me.

Why should a player be worth less if he's younger? If anything, he's worth MORE because he will get even better.
He's our best player and deserves to be paid accordingly.

And no I DONT think Raheem thinks "oh let nice John from Boston have the money instead"..

The best players deserve the best money so I'd agree here.

This smells of intermingling faeces that we've come to expect from the big two in Spain.

Even more so when people realise that this is the contract discussion many already had over the summer, and that BR's quote is more than a month old.
Not to mention it's pretty much the same rumour about madrid that floated around back then as well.

They must be getting bored at the mirror to rehash old stories.

He is up there in the upper echelon of great players and will earn stupid money at some stage, can he wait? Would like to say going to Real at such an early age would ruin him, but with their pace he would be great.

Lets hope he is not our next Suarez transfer drama. Fack sake!

A statement from the club saying "Raheem will never be sold" would be good right about now. Fairy Tale!

The Suarez and Torres deal have left scars on me where now I am just of the opinion of

F**k IT. 

If he doesn't want to wear Liverpool red then he can go.  Same with anyone else.

I only want players playing for the shirt, regardless of their quality.

(Fully aware Raheem has not said anything to date though)

So basically a previous quote from Rodgers has been used to form this whole story.

Why the F**k you lot getting taken in by the Daily F***ing Manc.

F***ing hell get off Rodger's back, he's trying to do the right thing here and not let the fame or the money go Raheem's head, not the first time Sterling has nearly gone off the rails.

So basically a previous quote from Rodgers has been used to form this whole story.

Why the F**k you lot getting taken in by the Daily F***ing Manc.

F***ing hell get off Rodger's back, he's trying to do the right thing here and not let the fame or the money go Raheem's head, not the first time Sterling has nearly gone off the rails.

Even worse, it's a John Cross story.

That fat c**t is still at the door of The Emirates awaiting Suarez.

Hes 19 on 30 grand a week. What does he need to have that trebled for at his age (at any age). In January 2016 we can sit him down and say now you can have 60 grand (if his form hasnt dipped) throw a loyalty bonus if so desired and tell him his next contract will be doubled again.

In between all that he improves to a level hes capable off and becomes one of teh very best players in the world ok then let him tell us what he wants and see if we can match it but come on 30 grand a week should be more then plenty for himnow

Huh?

A thread based on an article in today's various rags?

F**k me, unless I'm mistaken the lad has a contract until 2017 so let's not get all uppity because we've lost a couple of matches and start throwing stones like the bully at play time eh?

We don't know what the lads on, what performance related clauses he has in his contract, nothing. The lad could've walked away with 100k a week last season for all we know.

Press speculation that has no other cause than to cause division should not be a good enough reason to dedicate a thread to it.

This grand conspiracy by the British press and every other newspaper in Europe to ensure that Liverpool FC continue to lose the best players in the team to rival clubs is now in SuperDrive mode.

It won't be so easy if we did what needed doing at the right time.

Sterling is by far the best so far in LFC. That says a lot.

This grand conspiracy by the British press and every other newspaper in Europe to ensure that Liverpool FC continue to lose the best players in the team to rival clubs is now in SuperDrive mode.

I doubt this is the case mate.