Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that the club has opened contract talks with 19 year old forward Raheem Sterling with a view to extending the player’s contract.
The player has been linked to Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid in recent weeks, a development the Northern Irishman said he was not a bit concerned about as he believes the England international’s future lies at Anfield.
Brendan Rodgers is strongly of the view that he (Sterling) would commit his long term future to Liverpool.
The man at the helms at Anfield confirmed that talks have started thus:
“Ian Ayre has spoken to his representatives and is quite relaxed. The club is dealing with the agent, so everything is calm. The boy is remarkably happy here and there are no secondary thoughts about anything else other than continuing to play for Liverpool and he still has a lot of growth and for that the best place for him to be is here.”
Raheem Sterling has become a key figure in Liverpool’s armoury since last season. He formed a devastating partnership with Daniel Sturridge, and the now departed Luis Suarez last season.
It was a formidable partnership that led Liverpool to a record goals tally in the league, but just fell short of the ultimate prize of winning the Premier league last season.
The 19 year old had started the season in fine form with three goals scored so far in the Premier League the highlight of which included the goal against West Ham at Upton Park in the 3-1 defeat to Sam Allardyce side.
In Daniel Sturrigde’s absence, he has sought to carry the team’s attacking threat almost single handedly but he has inevitably come up short, as that combination play and understanding established through several seasons of playing with Sturridge have been missing in the latter’s absence.
The Liverpool faithful would obviously be hoping that he puts pen to paper soon, in order to ward off any potential club in continental Europe that might come in for his services.
And the larger hope would obviously be that after he signs the contract extension that his form does not suffer as it did few seasons ago when he signed his last contract just after he broke into the first team.
With Daniel Sturridge committing his future to the club after he signed a new five year deal without much hassle, Raheem Sterling’s expected sign up to a new deal should follow the same route in the coming weeks.
