Raheem Sterling will miss Liverpool‘s pre-season tour of Australia and the Far East as the club have opened talks with Manchester City over a possible transfer, reported several media outlets.
Two bids for the player have already been rejected by Liverpool as Sterling has made it clear he doesn’t wish to remain at the Merseyside club.
The 20-year-old is under contract until 2017, but has turned down a new A?100,000-a-week deal at Liverpool mid-season.
He initially asked to be left out of the pre-season tour of Thailand, Australia and Malaysia, but was anyway named on a 30-man list on Saturday by the club. He also missed two days of training citing illness. However, his name has now been pulled out now as Liverpool have finally opened talks regarding a move.
The Liverpool ECHO reported that Manchester City had submitted a third offer for the 20-year-old.
Chris Bascombe of The Telegraph reported: He was due to board a plane heading to Bangkok this afternoon having initially been named in the travelling group, but significant progress has been made in the conversations between City and Liverpool. It now appears to be a question of when rather than if Sterling completes his move to The Etihad Stadium, bringing an increasingly acrimonious dispute between player and club to an end.
The report also adds that while Liverpool haven’t accepted the renewed A?45 million, the two clubs are edging closer to Liverpool’s valuation. Liverpool have made it clear that they won’t part with the 20 year-old for less than A?50m and it is understood that the Merseysiders are hoping to achieve an additional A?5 million in add-ons, . “although the terms would have to be significantly different from earlier proposals which were heavily dependant on Sterling winning silverware in Manchester.”
Former captain Steven Gerrard said he was “disappointed” in the player. He said, “You don’t have to throw in illness, or refuse to go on tour. The fans have shown him great support, they want him to stay and I believe that he should too.”
It looks like the player is closer than ever to his desired move to Manuel Pellegrini’s side and it is clear that the two sides are not too far apart in their valuation of the youngster.