While he maintains that he isna t a a money grabbing 20-year-olda and is committed to doing well for Liverpool, Raheem Sterling has also said that hea s happy that hea s being linked with top clubs such as Arsenal.
Sterling is, at the moment, in contract talks with current club Liverpool, but the talks havena t quite gone to plan apparently. The 20-year-old is rumored to be demanding in excess of A?150,000 a week, while the club is only willing to offer A?100,000. That A?100,000 a week contract was turned down by the England International, something he confessed in an interview with the BBC.
Sterlinga s current contract runs till the summer of 2017 and being only 20, he has loads of potential and could well become a played around whom Liverpool sides of the future are built.
Yet, the wingera s attitude would have irked the club and manager Brendan Rodgers who has been played a huge role in developing Sterling into the player her is today.
Since rejecting that offer, Sterling has been linked with several top clubs across Europe and one of them just happens to be Redsa Saturday opponents – Arsenal. Liverpool and Arsenal, of course, share a huge rivalry which is why the 20-year-olda s statements will definitely bother the supporters.
He said: “Yeah definitely ita s quite flattering [to be linked], but I try to just block everything out in my head and just keep playing football and doing well in my next game.
“My next game is against Arsenal [on Saturday] and Ia ll be trying to my best against them, I wona t hide anything about that.
“Ia m just happy to be playing football and want to do my best for Liverpool.”
Liverpool, of course, are locked in a three horse race for two Champions League spots with Arsenal and Manchester United. The Reds lost to United in their last game and will be looking to put in a better performance against Arsenal who have won 14 out of their last 16 games in all competitions.
For Liverpool to fire, Sterling will need to be on his game as the Reds will be missing several first team stars including Steven Gerrard, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Sturridge through suspension and injury.
Sterling, who has become a regular starter both at Liverpool and with England, has scored 11 goals this season in about 50 games for club and country this season.