Raheem Sterling Saga
Marc Fox
The longer the painful saga of Raheem Sterling's departure from Liverpool has dragged on, the more you have to wonder whether those associated with Manchester City have questioned the wisdom of lavishing £50 million on a young player with patently little understanding of the concept of loyalty.
Sterling's rapid rise to prominence under Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, his international performances for England and the recent report that crowned the forward the most valuable young player in Europe might well speak for themselves.
So too does the fact that at 20, he is already outshining the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo at the same age and has a mammoth amount of footballing development ahead of him.
Yet, the news that Sterling has ruled himself out of joining the Reds squad when they travel to Bangkok on Sunday before flying on to Australia and Malaysia doesn't sit well, not only with Liverpool supporters the world over but also with traditionalists that are already turning their back on the modern game in droves.
Liverpool rejected a £40 million bid from Manchester City and Sterling's latest actions are only likely to serve to see the club dig their heels in even more. They eventually decided to let the player go for an improved offer of £49 million.
Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher, no stranger to the concepts of loyalty and reliability, makes a valid argument about the reputation that the clear ill-advised Sterling is beginning to cultivate. "Are Man City fans looking at the situation and thinking this could be us in a few years?" asks Carragher today.
The situation is all the more remarkable given the disdain with which young England players have been treated by City over the past few seasons.
The fledgling careers of Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair have at best been derailed and at worst spoiled by accepting switches to City aged 21 and 23, respectively. Rodwell lasted just 24 months before being moved on to Sunderland; Sinclair disappeared off the radar before Tim Sherwood was appointed Aston Villa coach earlier this year.
Adam Johnson, who signed when he was 22 and left aged 25 is another pertinent case.
See also the recent example of James Milner, who's clearly made the opposite journey from Manchester City to Liverpool on the basis of being promised to play in his preferred central midfield position rather than for cash.
Manchester City, FA youth cup finalists this year, have also been guilty of failing to promote their best academy players under the Sheikh Mansour regime.
Yet, only this week - against the backdrop of Sterling's reluctance to accept life at Liverpool - former City defender Micah Richards conceded that Fabian Delph has asked him about playing with the Sky Blues after the Villa captain was linked with a transfer north. Though in the end, Delph decided to stay put.
Delph has bolstered his burgeoning standing with England since the last World Cup, and like Sterling, he would have been risking his own reputation by pushing to leave Villa just seven months after agreeing a new four-and-a-half-year contract.
Sterling's transfer has now gone through.
Liverpool at first refused to publicly entertain Sterling's demands and maintained that he was currently missing through illness rather than a refusal to train.
That was to the club's credit in the eyes of most.
However, even with two years remaining on Sterling's current contract, Rodgers and the Reds hierarchy knew very well that the player's value was more likely to diminish over the next 12 months than rise, especially if a period frozen out on the bench had ensued.
The case is thus set to herald an even darker dawn in the era of player and agent power.
One can only hope that Sterling's advisers really do have the youngster's best interests at heart.
© Marc Fox & Soccerphile.com
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