Roy Hodgson worried amid Raheem Sterling’s Liverpool contract chaos
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Version 0 of 1. Raheem Sterling’s contract dispute with Liverpool descended into open conflict during an extraordinary day of acrimony and finger-pointing that has seen the club break off talks with his agent and the England manager, Roy Hodgson, admit he is “worried” for the player at the centre of an increasingly embittered row that is closely being monitored by Chelsea, Arsenal and both Manchester clubs. Brendan Rodgers is now deliberating whether he can keep Sterling in his team for their final game of the season at Stoke City after the jarring way Liverpool received confirmation Sterling had no intention of staying on Merseyside, no matter what deal was offered. Liverpool immediately cancelled a meeting that had been scheduled for Friday with Aidy Ward, Sterling’s agent, after he was quoted in the London Evening Standard as saying there was no way his client would stay at Anfield and branding Jamie Carragher, the pundit and one of the club’s celebrated former players, a “knob” for criticising him in his television role for Sky Sports. “I don’t care about the PR of the club and the club situation,” Ward told the newspaper. “I don’t care. He is definitely not signing. He’s not signing for £700,000, £800,000, £900,000 a week. He is not signing. My job is to make sure I do the best with them [my clients]. If people say I am bad at my job, or they are badly advised it, does not matter.” Carragher had been critical of the way Sterling was taking on Liverpool, saying the 20-year-old should change his agent and accusing Ward of being responsible for a series of damaging and badly timed leaks aimed at ultimately getting a big-money transfer for his client. Ward’s response has been seen as further evidence at Anfield that the agent is determined to drive a wedge between the player and the club. “Carragher is a knob,” he allegedly said. “Everybody knows it. Any of the criticism from current pundits or ex-Liverpool players – none of those things matter to me. It is not relevant. I am not worried. Worried is making a decision not knowing what is going to happen. Every Premier League club will make a bid for him.” Ward, whose other clients include Saido Berahino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, later tried to distance himself from those comments, claiming it was an off-the-record conversation and he had not been quoted fairly. However, the damage is substantial and Liverpool’s view is that there is no point having a meeting with someone who is not apparently even willing to listen to an offer. Liverpool have been made aware of interest from Manchester United, though there has been no official contact, and suspect it is genuine when Ward talks of all the major English clubs wanting Sterling. Rodgers is due to give his thoughts when he holds a news conference at 9.30am on Friday and is expected to reiterate Sterling is not for sale. However, it is also apparent the Sterling camp will do everything they can to make his position untenable. The player, who has two years remaining on his current deal, was jeered by some when he collected the club’s young player of the year award at a dinner on Tuesday and this development will only worsen his standing among the club’s supporters. Hodgson has been monitoring the growing split and said he sympathised with Sterling, pointing out he is only 20 and inexperienced when it comes to handling these kind of issues. “I worry for all these young players, to be honest,” Hodgson said. “They become stars very quickly and we should never forget we’re dealing with very young people. They burst on the scene at a young age, and at 19 they are bona fide internationals with tens of caps and coming up to 100 league games, but we cannot given them the experience of a Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. Unfortunately we can’t put another seven or eight years’ experience of life on his shoulders.” Hodgson said he would give Sterling career advice if the player asked, and added: “I hope that people don’t judge him too harshly, whatever he happens to do, because as a player and a character I find him spot-on. I trust him implicitly. I think he’s a very important player. And I really do sympathise with these players who have to live their lives under scrutiny – sometimes of their making, sometimes of other people’s making.” |