#7 | Raheem Sterling - 2020/21 Performances

[Phil1]

I think there are a few alternatives that are likely to be better. If we can afford them and they'll come then Sterling should be sold this window.

In the meantime, I don't want to see him starting any game that truly matters.

Football doesn't work like that. If Sterling doesn't want to go then he doesn't go.
This idea we can just sell him to raise funds for another player is fanciful and not grounded in any reality.

 

[domalino]

It seems your the one worrying about it.

"Here's a reason no one will worry about X"

"OH LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT X!!!!"

If you can't come up with a grown up reply, just don't reply.

 

[mosssideblue]

Football doesn't work like that. If Sterling doesn't want to go then he doesn't go.
This idea we can just sell him to raise funds for another player is fanciful and not grounded in any reality.

Technically true Pab, but clubs can make things "a little more" awkward, to convince players not to stay. I'm being generic BTW and not aiming this as Sterling.

 

[mosssideblue]

"Here's a reason no one will worry about X"

"OH LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT X!!!!"

If you can't come up with a grown up reply, just don't reply.

Im simply responding to your "I know what's going to happen" argument, because you certainly are like me, just pontificating on scenarios. I present mine as options, while you post as being factual.

 

[Phil1]

Technically true Pab, but clubs can make things "a little more" awkward, to convince players not to stay. I'm being generic BTW and not aiming this as Sterling.

The thing is he still has 2 years left on big wages. If he digged his heels in then financially he'd still be quids in by leaving on a free.
I doubt it'd ever come to that though, I think both parties are wanting to sign a new contract.

 

[mosssideblue]

The thing is he still has 2 years left on big wages. If he digged his heels in then financially he'd still be quids in by leaving on a free.
I doubt it'd ever come to that though, I think both parties are wanting to sign a new contract.

They are all set for life anyways. Some years back, me and the Mrs were talking and I said to her, what Toure earns in a week, you would have to work 50 years at Tesco.

I think he also will be offered a new, but I also believe it will be more based on our value of him, rather than his own valuation.

It would be interesting though to see what the club would do if there was a genuine enquiry for him

 

[OrigamiNinja]

The thing is he still has 2 years left on big wages. If he digged his heels in then financially he'd still be quids in by leaving on a free.
I doubt it'd ever come to that though, I think both parties are wanting to sign a new contract.

I wonder if in the current financial environment the club would put talks on hold until half way through next season? If nobody can afford him this summer anyway, maybe we can afford to wait a little longer before committing either way?

 

[Pablo ZZZ Peroni]

I know this doesn't satisfy the forum's need to draw permanent conclusions and thirst for telling our own players to fuck off and be sold, but maybe he's just fucking tired and needs a rest? And maybe we should just let him get that rest without devoting hundreds of posts to gossiping like teenage girls about how he's lost Pep's trust because he didn't come on in a game we'd already won.

He has been the only omnipresent player in this side other than Ederson. KDB has had almost 2 season out injured. Bernardo spent 18 months on the bench after he burnt out in 18/19, Mahrez has only started 50% of games since he arrived, Foden hasn't played until this season so no wonder he's the freshest and Gundogan spent 4 seasons behind David Silva.

Sterling did an absolutely monumental job for the team last year, taking up all of the slack from Sané leaving and Aguero getting injured.

The guy deserves a season out of form more than anyone, and he certainly deserves it without a horde of supporters trying to undermine or erase all the good he did in the past 4 years and demand he gets sold. Not to mention the racist abuse from his own fans both online and in person which he has got, despite some posters' attempts to pretend it didn't happen or wasn't from City fans.

All competitions + Internationals

View attachment 14816

Just for City -

View attachment 14818

And by the way, those stats include this season when he's been in poor form and in and out of the team. At the beginning of the season, he'd played 50 games worth of football more than Bernardo since 2017/18. 25 more games than KDB, and 70 games more than Gundogan. And we've actually got 430 pages of people asking why he's out of form.

Great post Dom

I was suggesting the same thing a few pages back:

He needs a break desperately mate. Physically and mentally. It's not an excuse - it's simple sports science. Hitting a wall, running on empty or whatever - his drop-off from not the highest of bars has been extraordinarily.

The same thing has happened to Mane at Liverpool. Best or nearly best player and his performance has fallen off a cliff.

Yesterday was Sterling's 60th appearance (inc England) since last summer. He has more minutes in his legs than any other player (x Dias) and all without a proper break or a pre-season. This all on the back of the most minutes under Pep for the seasons before.

 

[Phil1]

I wonder if in the current financial environment the club would put talks on hold until half way through next season? If nobody can afford him this summer anyway, maybe we can afford to wait a little longer before committing either way?

There is merit in the argument to put off talks until after the Euro's. A lot can happen between now and then but the risk is big for Sterling.
He will either have a magic tournament which gives him bargaining chips or he has a stinker which falls into the clubs hands.
I still maintain that City think an awful lot more of him than an ever growing section of our fan base. I don't think there's any issue about actually renewing, just the dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's.

 

[Tevez City]

He should start as RW against Spurs.

its an opportunity for him to regain his 2018 form.