Raheem Sterling has time on his side. How else can Manchester City justify spending £49m on a player who has never scored in the Champions League and has three times as many bookings for England as he has international goals?
Manchester United have bought Germany's captain, Holland's brightest prospect and Italy's right-back for a combined fee of £51m this summer, so in what world is a sulking Sterling worth £49m? In the crazy world of English football. The crazy world where TV companies pay £5.14bn to show football matches, English players are thought to be more valuable than their foreign counterparts and footballers can push through transfers by refusing to turn up to their jobs.
Manchester City have splurged a striking amount of money on an unproven player but, on the other side of the argument, Liverpool have lost credibility by selling. Only a few short months ago Brendan Rodgers was adamant that Sterling would be staying put. "We've made our position clear from the beginning and the owners are very much supportive of that," said Rodgers in April. "Raheem won't be going anywhere this summer, even if there's not a deal agreed." Rodgers' big words made for big headlines at the time but they're giving him big headaches now. For the second season in a row, the Liverpool manager is waving goodbye to his best player.
Rodgers tried to replace Luis Suárez last summer by colonising the Southampton team that had been so successful the year before, and he seems intent on scattering his millions far and wide again this year. He has bought Roberto Firmino for £29m, Nathaniel Clyne for £12.5m,Danny Ings for around £6.5m and Joe Gomes for £3.5m, as well as bringing in James Milner and Adam Bogdan on free transfers. Each of them is worthy of a place in Liverpool's first-team squad, but none of them are likely to turn matches the way Sterling can. City have gambled a lot of money on a 20-year-old, but they have also acquired England's most exciting young player. Time will tell which club did better from the deal – and Sterling has a long career ahead of him to prove the doubters wrong. Will he be worth the money?
Africanjam is website that came into service December 2013(with another domain) and on April 2014 the new domain Africanjam(dot)com came into use. It was found by John Kapela who is currently in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. This site provides news from Africa and all over the world in Politics, Sports, Entertainment as well as Technology tips and some Amazing Facts. We also provide Football updates from all over the world. Visit this site everyday for being in touch with everything happening in Africa and the whole world.
Follow us on Twitter @african_jam
Like our Facebook page Africanjam.com
