Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling has been urged to “take control of his own career” by former Reds midfielder Jan Molby, with John Aldridge saying the youngster is “far from the finished article”.
The duo were speaking, along with Jason McAteer, on the latest 5Times podcast from the Liverpool Former Players Association.
Sterling has been making headlines in the media for a number of reasons in recent weeks, one of which is his decision to wait until the summer before continuing talks on a new contract, and that was the topic concerning the trio, who all agreed the influence of his agent was a worry to them.
Aldridge said: “It’s a bit delicate. When he’s got someone who looks after him who – he’s not had a father [around] when he’s young – he’s got this agent that’s looked after him from when he was young and he believes everything, trust-wise, with him.
“We all know with the experience we’ve got he’s had wrong info from him, bad advice.”
Reports suggest Sterling believes he can get higher wages at another club, perhaps a club better equipped to win trophies, than the £100k he is said to have turned down at Anfield and Molby says that could well be true.
“I think Raheem Sterling’s agent is right,” Molby says, “in that he can find a club who’ll pay him £150k a week – but can he find a club that is prepared to pay the fee that Liverpool want?
“I think the club have a figure of £50m in mind. You can find a club who’ll pay you £150k a week, but can you find a club that will pay £50m to get you there?”
For Jason McAteer there’s another issue to consider: “Just take that out of the picture for a minute, the financial side,” he said. “The advice he’s given his player – there might be a Bayern Munich involved, there might be a Real Madrid involved, there might be a Man City or a Chelsea, but at the end of the day surely the advice from the agent has got to come: ‘Raheem, you might not play,’
“Scott Sinclair, Rodwell – they’ve all been there, we’ve got experience of this happening before.”
Molby said the agent seems to only be considering the player’s short term future: “The advice from the agent is to fill your boots, isn’t it? Here and now.”
McAteer added: “The advice of the agent is fill your boots, but is the agent looking and thinking: ‘Wow!’?
“He’s just left his company, is he thinking, ‘There’s a payday for me!’?”
Molby said from his own knowledge of the game it’s not likely to be the end of it if the player does move on: “And then when he gets into his new club he [the agent] is working on his next move or his next deal. That’s how it works, we know that.”
Aldridge also pointed out that there is almost certainly to be an incentive for the agent to push for a move away from Anfield rather than a new deal: “If he signs a contract for Liverpool, hypothetically, the agent will get, say, £400k. If he signs for Manchester City – again hypothetically – the agent will get £1.5m.
“And that’s how it works.”
Aldridge added that the 20-year-old needs looking after: “Whether Raheem knows that – I’m sure he knows that – but you’ve got to look after the lad and nurture the lad, he’s far from the finished article, far from it, but at least he’s getting game time at Liverpool.
“Hopefully he’ll stay at Liverpool and one day he’ll realise what a great club it is and he’ll want to stay but I feel that will never happen. If he doesn’t go now then he’ll go down the line.
Molby feels the player needs to take matters into his own hands: “I think the more Raheem decides to hide behind his agent – unless Raheem takes control of his own career, of which you only have one, I can’t see him signing.
“But if he says: ‘What is it I want to do?’ – and obviously you want to earn as much as you can – but £100k per week, at Liverpool Football Club, as a 20 year old, should get you by.
“If he keeps listening to his agent, I do worry.”
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