Raheem Sterling Has No Idea What He's Doing

Sometimes, you feel for youngsters for being naïve.

Perhaps Raheem Sterling was being naïve when, back in April, he started talking about his contract negotiations with Liverpoolin an interview with BBC Sport. At the time, the 20-year-oldEnglish-Jamaican indicated that he had no intention of signing the five-year contract extension his club was offering him, worth 100,000 pounds ($153,700) per week. He insisted that his main goal wastrophies and not money.

To be sure, talking about contract negotiations with the press is a bad move — any professional player would tell you that. It follows, then, that Sterling came under aton of criticism from both fans and critics alike for that interview. You’d think he would have learned something from that.

Alas, no: on Tuesday, Sterling, who still has two years left onhis Liverpool contract, told Coach Brendan Rodgers he had no intention of joining the club’s preseason tour of Australia and Asia, which begins on Sunday, due to his pending move toManchester City, or wherever. Then, on Wednesday, the player failed to report for training, calling in “sick.”

Who is handling this kid? If there’s one thing you do as aprofessional soccer player, it’s show up. Why? Because the fans are the reason you get paid your astronomical salary, that’s why. Forget the coach, forget the management, forget all thethings you may hate about the club that employs you, but for God’s sake, show up for the fans — they absolutely deserve your utmost respect no matter what your personal circumstances are withthe club.

Of course, Raheem Sterling didn’t get that memo. Meanwhile, Liverpool fans are apparently pretty pissed off at him.

According to the Daily Mirror, Sterling’s cell phone number was leakedonline on Tuesday night, so the England international woke up Wednesday to hundreds of aggressive — and in some cases, racist — messages from angry fans. Per the report, “Sterling isunderstood to have taken screenshots [of the abuse] as he considers his next move.” What exactly does he plan to do with those screenshots?

The racist messages, of course, areinexcusable, but the player absolutely deserves the fans’ ire for the way he’s handled himself. As one fan wrote on Twitter (via Bleacher Report): “Based on Twitter vitriol alone,I can’t wait to see the reception Raheem Sterling gets at Anfield in City colors.”

Everyone in the world, especially Rodgers — who by the way has been buying players as if there may be aglobal shortage soon in anticipation of his sale — knows that Sterling wants to leave Liverpool, and will eventually leave Liverpool, but unfortunately for him, this transfer saga is nowhere nearover yet.

City, Sterling’s presumed eventual destination, has thus far had two bids for the 20-year-old rejected by Liverpool: a 25 million-pound ($38.4 million) bid rising to 30 million($46.1 million), and a 35 million-pound ($53.8 million) bid rising to 40 million ($61.5 million). Reds’ management, obviously in no hurry to sell, wants 50 million pounds ($76.8 million).
He may be blessed with terrifying speed, good vision, and a decent shot, but Raheem Sterling is nowhere close to cracking the top 20 players in the English Premier League. Though he had a goodseason last year, scoring 13 goals and adding nine assists in 56 games in all competitions, the main thing he has on his side, really, is youth. He is not, however, worth $77 million — especiallywith the kind of attitude he’s displayed.

But one of the big problems with his transfer is the fact that Queens Park Rangers — his former club — is guaranteed 20 percent of any sale; itfollows, then, that Liverpool wants super-rich City to pay that extra 20 percent, which is one reason why this transfer saga could drag on until the end of the summer.

Unfortunatley, theKingston native has already burned most, if not all, of his bridges at Anfield, and there’s still a good six weeks of the transfer window left.

Meanwhile, as Liverpool legend Jaime Carragher says, “He’s starting to get a reputation that could be hard to rid himself of in thefuture. Are Man City fans looking at the situation and thinking this could be us in a few years?” The former Reds defender adds: “I think this situation will only make Liverpool moredetermined to get the fee they feel Raheem is worth, rather than caving in to Raheem’s and Man City’s wishes.”

Nevertheless, Sterling will likely get the move he wants, but theway he’s handled himself has basically left his reputation in tatters. One more poor move and City could decide it doesn’t want him anymore, in which case, he could end up like hisunwanted and overpriced teammate, Mario Balotelli.