Liverpool
The two previous seasons at Anfield have notably seen young Raheem burst into life and put his name well out in the football world, however he has found himself under the media spotlight especially this season for plenty of the wrong reasons. A video appeareing of the England international inhaling nitrous oxide back in April, and had been spoken to by Brendan Rodgers, not the best impression to be setting.
However some admiration I feel has to be shown for the way he publicly came out and said his view on the accusations of him being a "money-grabber" after turning down a £100,000 a-week contract at Liverpool. He claimed that he wanted to focus on being the best he can be and put talks on hold to the summer, take with that what you will.
The title-challenge season is where we saw the fresh talent begin to give the Premier League a taste of what was to come, with a lot of prospect and excitement about him, the offensive winger managed to bag nine goals and five assists in 33 (nine subtitute) appearances. In what was a prolific season for Liverpool with a total of 101 goals, a doomed end to the season by letting the championship slip out of their grasp in the last couple of weeks.
With the 2014-15 season arriving and the ever present Luis Suarez departing to FC Barcelona, Sterling would learn that he would have to take up a much more offensive role than compared to the previous season, including an ever increasing amount of expectation from the Liverpool support. It was a positive start, bagging a goal in the first game, and linking up with the not so present Daniel Sturridge, things were looking promising. However with the added influence of Champions League football and poor results it didn't appear that Liverpool would come anywhere near to the success (or not) of the previous campaign. 35 appearances on and an extra 800 minutes playing time compared to the previous season seven goals and seven assists came out of the youngsters season, in a very busy season which was also on the back of three appearances at the World Cup. The season saw him take on an active and offensive role within the team, but with what can only be described as a shambles of a season sitting , media speculation about his future things begun to get sour towards him.
However with the departure of such a big name, and the lack of playing quality around him, that raises the question as to whether Sterling should have performed better being one of the stand alone stars in a poor performing squad. Or does he need quality around him, to push his performance forward and to allow him to play better as an individual, maybe his next team will have just the quality he needs...
Destination: Manchester CityHowever with the departure of such a big name, and the lack of playing quality around him, that raises the question as to whether Sterling should have performed better being one of the stand alone stars in a poor performing squad. Or does he need quality around him, to push his performance forward and to allow him to play better as an individual, maybe his next team will have just the quality he needs...
The most likely place it seems for Raheem Sterling next season will be in the sky blue colours at the Etihad Stadium. The players agent doing his job of stirring things up by saying he wouldn't even accept a £900,000 a-week contract at Liverpool, has attracted interest from an owner who probably would be silly enough to offer something of that proportion for the individual. With chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak recently expressing that the club will be targeting 'high quality' signings and two offers already rejected, this appears to be the number one target for the club providing they meet the £50 million pound price tag.
Many questions will be circulating in many fans heads if this signing materialises, which I will aim to tackle within this post.
Firstly will he be able to fit into the Manchester City team?
In my honest opinion I feel it is the best possible place for the player if he decides to move to greener pastures. Sterling is very industrious with his attacking positions and can slot anywhere in the attacking frame in midfield. I feel Manchester City may look to slot him in the left side of midfield within the 4-2-3-1 formation, allowing David Silva to further his providing role in the centre of attacking midfield. Although Jesus Navas didn't compete in every game last season for City, I feel he will hold his role on the right side and provides much the same in which Sterling can, and although they may chop and change every so often, I feel it will be a close battle for that position between Nasri and Sterling on the left side.
Firstly will he be able to fit into the Manchester City team?
In my honest opinion I feel it is the best possible place for the player if he decides to move to greener pastures. Sterling is very industrious with his attacking positions and can slot anywhere in the attacking frame in midfield. I feel Manchester City may look to slot him in the left side of midfield within the 4-2-3-1 formation, allowing David Silva to further his providing role in the centre of attacking midfield. Although Jesus Navas didn't compete in every game last season for City, I feel he will hold his role on the right side and provides much the same in which Sterling can, and although they may chop and change every so often, I feel it will be a close battle for that position between Nasri and Sterling on the left side.
So how does Sterling compare to City's elite, well in terms of taking on a player and moving with the ball up the field, it's very promising, and shows he could be a real force anywhere across the pitch and pivotal when breaking out from defence. With a total of 103 successful take ons this season, it is only half of what he's attempted when running at a player this season. Now you may think 49.52% is a low success rate, but for a 20 year old attempting 206 take ons in 3047 minutes of football, if my calculations are correct he's attempting just under 15 a game and completing at least seven. Its also wise to take into consideration we don't know what areas of the pitch this is in, but more than likely with this type of footballer it will be in the final third, and with his explosive nature I believe it can only benefit City, and mirror what they have in Navas on the opposing side.
Navas on the other hand has a much higher percentage of successful take ons at 74% although the number of take ons are much smaller at 37 due to reduced playing time, still fairly good if you take into account 12 appearances have been from the bench out of his 35 appearances this season. David Silva easily leads the chances created with a total of 93 compared to Sterling, which is why I feel City will benefit from moving him to a more central role. Although Navas had the least playing time out of the three he still managed the most assists with eight, compared to the other two on seven. Although this adds to the point that if all three played within the same midfield they would be one of the biggest attacking threats within the league and possibly Europe.
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| How does Sterling compare to City's midfield? - Squakwa |
Is he worth £50 million?
It is a very hard question to estimate whether any player so young is worth such a high figure, and I feel that putting it down to his age makes it even harder to tackle. Liverpool are obviously going to try and get as much money as they can out of him and furthermore he's English, which is becoming evermore valuable for a team in the Premier League. However I do feel Liverpool have already replaced Sterling with the signing of James Milner, as he has proven to be just as effective as a pacey winger, without the pace. Whether this is the thinking behind it, time will tell.
I think a much better question would be to guess whether he will justify that price tag, and if he will go on to exceed or match the supposed worth of his services. For the national teams sake I hope he will, and I hope he will be a player who continuously develops into a better player every season, and he does have the potential to do that. Whether he will fit into Manchester City's style, or wherever he ends up we will have to wait and see.
To finish up this post, I will finish with a comparison between possibly the best wide midfielder in the league, Eden Hazard, after an astonishing title winning season for Chelsea he has set the Premier League alight. He has proved a consistent outfit for Chelsea, gaining 14 goals for the second season and picking up the PFA Player of the year awards it would be nice to see Sterling begin to replicate what he has done. He steals the show on the comparison stats, but looking at it, Sterling isn't a million miles away from the 24-year old. Development will be key, staying away from the media spotlight will also be massive. Maybe moving away from the mentor of the ever illustrious Mario Ballotelli to the likes of Sergio Aguero and David Silva may be the best for youngster who just needs to be steered onto the right path.
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| Sterling vs Hazard - Squakwa |
When the news came to light that Sterling was going to leave Liverpool, I was fairly shocked, but also was puzzled to work out where he would fit in amongst the top European clubs. I quickly narrowed it down to two and came up with either Arsenal or Manchester City. Arsene Wenger has talked of admiration of Sterling, but with players like Sanchez, Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain, I feel Sterling wouldn't fit well in there and would regularly be on the bench. I also thought of the same at City, and still could very much be the case.
However I do believe Manchester City would fit his style of play and his ambition of winning trophies, no other club within the European leagues need someone like him and I don't think he would suit another league. In my opinion he should either stay with Liverpool and have the expectation of a lower chance of silverware, or take the risk of not starting every game, but increase the likelihood of a Premier League medal, Champions League football and possibly develop into a well established England international.
