Raheem Sterling - Done - See main forum

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Because you would be stupid to pay money before pre season has even started when you might be able to pay less by haggling.

The resources our owner has are irrelevant.

I'm more in favour of paying the asking price and having done. This is an important signing for us psychologically, because Sterling is one of our 'A' listers. Our other main reputed targets, Pogba and Wilshere, are more likely to favour Barca in the first instance and to stay put in the second, and another summer where we land none of our first choices would not be good. Plus, what other realistic home growners would come close to the level we require? He may not be worth £50m, but an offer of less would give the dippers another chance to look tough in the eyes of their fans, and we should not underestimate either their bitterness or their capacity for pomposity, ie believing that if Sterling stays they will be able to educate him back into the fold, because they are after all (and as they like to call themselves) Liverpool Football Club

 

[moomba]

Glad you're not one of our negotiators then.

We'll end up buying him. We may even end up paying the asking price. But there is no reason to rush into things.

Its June.

 

[I'm no cynic but...]

Get Winston Wolfe to work on it. Seven days or someone has to pay!

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Glad you're not one of our negotiators then.

Sadly 'tis true. I'd fold at the first bluff!

 

[onceabluealways]

Glad you're not one of our negotiators then.

We'll end up buying him. We may even end up paying the asking price. But there is no reason to rush into things.

Its June.

Bet you were saying this when we were trying to buy Isco and Hazard. This window is massively important, we can either get back to the top or miss our targets and end up in the scrap for fourth. I expect the club know what they are doing and we may not even sign the players if we offer top price from the off , but I think the comment was very valid in this case.

We were linked with Firmino weeks ago - lets hope he was a secondary target and we've had the assurance our primary target is coming. Always a gamble though as the Isco saga proved.

 

[supercity88]

There's no point in paying and getting it done. What's the rush? I said a similar thing yesterday - we've got Sterling in the bag. He's going to be a City player and Liverpool know that. They're working on replacements and have been doing a lot of work already to improve their squad. That's not reliant on us buying Sterling though, they've still a pot of cash they can use on transfers. If there were three or four other clubs involved then we would act more quickly. In this case we're the only club involved so we may as well wait and get other deals closer to the line.

Many people are forgetting that FFP is still out there and it is not a concrete regulation, it can change and it can further restrict us. Furthermore, we don't know how far down the line we are with De Bruyne or Pogba, what if they're likely to cost us an extra £5m than we had estimated? If we've just paid up for Sterling then we can't save money there. It's better to wait, let Liverpool sweat a bit and then structure a deal so that it doesn't give them their £50m up front as they desire it. Even if we can save £1m on each transfer by waiting a month then it's worth doing. When the window officially opens, when the players are due in training, that's when the club will act more quickly because by then we're eating into time that the squad has to gel.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Had we wanted him......The Dippers would not have beaten us to Firmino's signature which suggests we have secured other targets.Subsequently,I believe Sterling was signed and sealed some time back and this is purely a media circus.

 

[philjoneswho?]

amazeballs

Haha touché

 

[moomba]

Bet you were saying this when we were trying to buy Isco and Hazard.

Hazard wasnt a case of us pissing about while another club jumped in. We were well out of the running by the time he went to Chelsea. Either he didnt want to come or we didnt want to pay what it would take to get him.

Isco is a closer scenario, but who is to say Madrid wouldnt have come in earlier if we got our side of things done earlier.

I think people are taken in a bit by Sheikh Mansours money. We're not going to spend millions just because we can.

We have an upper limit that we are prepared to spend on each transfer and people havent even thought that what Liverpool are asking might be beyond that upper limit.

No benefit to us getting a deal done now instead of a few weeks time. Even if we pay the asking price we'll have spent £200k on Sterlings wages while he's sitting on holidays.

 

[I'm no cynic but...]

There's no point in paying and getting it done. What's the rush? I said a similar thing yesterpedigree we've got Sterling in the bag. He's going to be a City player and Liverpool know that. They're working on replacements and have been doing a lot of work already to improve their squad. That's not reliant on us buying Sterling though, they've still a pot of cash they can use on transfers. If there were three or four other clubs involved then we would act more quickly. In this case we're the only club involved so we may as well wait and get other deals closer to the line.

Many people are forgetting that FFP is still out there and it is not a concrete regulation, it can change and it can further restrict us. Furthermore, we don't know how far down the line we are with De Bruyne or Pogba, what if they're likely to cost us an extra £5m than we had estimated? If we've just paid up for Sterling then we can't save money there. It's better to wait, let Liverpool sweat a bit and then structure a deal so that it doesn't give them their £50m up front as they desire it. Even if we can save £1m on each transfer by waiting a month then it's worth doing. When the window officially opens, when the players are due in training, that's when the club will act more quickly because by then we're eating into time that the squad has to gel.

Sterling is in the bag? Isco and Hazard were also thought to be but they were snatched away at the last minute by other big clubs with a winning pedigree and now that Chelsea are sniffing around this London boy, there's every chance Sterling will be lost to us too. Don't you think his agent wouldn't have beenin contact with them?