Liverpool agreed a deal for Raheem Sterling which ended the summer’s most acrimonious saga.
While many lauded Liverpool’s “great business”, former player Jamie Carragher brought to the fore, a very important point – Liverpool are losing their best players.
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He did agree that it was a great fee, but he said that the owners need to find the way to keep their best player
From Liverpoola s point of view, ita s a great fee a you cana t deny that,” he said.
“Longer term, youa ve got to be worried that youa re losing some of your best players, and one of your young players.
“It was difficult for Liverpool to keep Sterling a it was difficult for them to keep Luis Suarez. Both different situations, but both wanted to move on a ita s very difficult to stop that.
“I think the owners of the club have done very well in the transfer fees that theya ve got. Since theya ve come to the club theya ve been very strong, showing that you cana t come in and take players for not much money, so credit to them for that.
“But the longer theya re here, the owners of the club want Liverpool to be successful, challenging for trophies, and to do that you need to keep your best players.
“So although Liverpool have got a great fee for Sterling and last year for Suarez, longer term theya ve got to be thinking about how they can keep these players.”
The Liverpool legend makes perfect sense. Its not so easy to just “replace” these star players. The club lost Luis Suarez last season and the inability to replace him adequately, cost them a fair bit in the recently concluded season. Similarly, replacing Sterling is going to be a task, especially since the Reds have other key areas to focus on as well.
Liverpool owners do need to find a way to ensure players want to stick around and play for the club and the way to do that is play well, win trophies and finish in the top 4 consistently.