With the push for qualification and all the timing of this could have been much better.
First Stevie saying he would have signed had a contract been set in front of him (when he retired from international commitments) and now this. Surely, rather than opening talks when they did, a wiser head would have approached Raheem to tell him, come May, we would be happy to talk pay rise? This is bound to have an effect on the lad which, in turn, can impact on the team.
If we learn nothing else from this - learn that timing issues need to be more considered.
Maybe, maybe not with Sterling. I think last Summer he will have had three years left on his contract. If so, is the club trying to get things done during the season them trying not to leave it too late?
What is certain though is that he will have seen us give an injury prone striker a £150k a week contract while he was actually injured. He will have then took into account the amount of games he was playing and his importance to the team.
He'll also notice that in the last two seasons he has played 81 times for us whilst Studge just 49 times and that will rise as he is now injured once again.
It's easy for us to say he doesn't deserve X amount because he is only 20 years old and has a lot to learn but if you look at it strictly from the 'importance to the team' point of view then I can see why he is asking for that much. Coutinho didn't and to be fair I'd actually have welcomed him getting a contract like the one Raheem is asking for but he didn't go for it. That is not Raheem's fault.
It's complicated but I think we'll see again his worth to this team now that our £150k a week striker is back on the sidelines.
God knows how this will pan out but if we don't pay it he will go in my opinion. It seems that money is doing all of the talking here and his agent, who has got form, is rumoured to have met with Brian Kidd this week.
Andy Heaton from the Anfield Wrap seems quite sure Raheem has been tapped up by City and had his head turned.
If we want him, we pay him. If we don't want to pay a player, who is as important to the team as he is, the amount that he is asking for then we lose him.
Me personally? I'd take into consideration his overall availability. Is he injury prone? No.
How much has he cost the club? F**k all really.
How important is he to the side? Very, judging by the amount he plays.
He is also tactically superb, can do a job in a variety of positions, is English, will get better and seems to have matured.
I'd give him it.
The flip side to all of those positives is if somebody is thinking about how much profit they could get from them.