Raheem Sterling will undertake a medical at Manchester City on Monday after the deposed Premier League champions finally agreed a fee that could potentially rise as high as €68m with Liverpool for the England forward.
The winger remained behind as Brendan Rodgers and his players departed for Bangkok on their pre-season tour of the south-east Asia and Australia after talks between the clubs reached an advanced stage.
Agreement was eventually struck on Sunday afternoon on a deal which will cost City an initial €61.6m with a further €7m due in add-ons, with the player now formally free to discuss personal terms and undertake medical checks with his new employers. A long-term contract worth around €280,000-a-week has effectively already been agreed.
Confirmation of the agreement brings to a conclusion one of the more protracted and acrimonious transfer story-lines of the summer with City’s persistent efforts to secure the player finally proving successful. Two previous bids - the first offering an initial €35m rising to €42m, and the second €49m with add-ons to take the deal closer to €56m - had been knocked back by the Merseyside club, with those additional clauses and payments largely dependent upon City winning silverware.
Yet, while Liverpool had expressed a desire to retain the England international, there was an acceptance that Sterling’s relationship with the hierarchy had deteriorated markedly over the course of last season once talks over a new contract at Anfield, which were initiated last October, quickly ran aground. The player subsequently rejected a proposed deal worth €140,000-a-week in March and has appeared destined to leave ever since after five years, 129 appearances and 23 goals for the club.
The 20-year-old still played 52 times last term but had made clear to Rodgers his desire to depart, with the issue brought to a head on the first day of pre-season, last Monday, when he requested to be omitted from the party for the two-week tour of Thailand, Malaysia and Australia.
Liverpool informed the player that he would be the subject of disciplinary action if he did not fulfil his club commitments, but Sterling then called in sick twice last week, missing two days’ of training at Melwood, amid suggestions the Professional Footballers’ Association might have to be called in to try and broker a peace.
The player, who was under contract at Anfield until 2017, was at the club's training ground on Sunday morning but was told he would not be travelling after City tabled their third offer on Friday night. That had sparked further talks over the weekend ahead of resolution, with Liverpool now expected to re-enter the transfer market with the money generated by Sterling's sale. The Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke remains a long-standing target.
The youngster will become City’s first significant signing of the summer as Manuel Pellegrini’s side attempt to recruit more homegrown players into the set-up to bolster their options after the departures of Frank Lampard, Micah Richards, James Milner, Scott Sinclair and Dedryck Boyata this summer.
Their attempts to add Villa's Fabian Delph to their squad, having activated the £8m buy-out clause in the midfielder's contract, were thwarted on Saturday when the player declared his intention to remain at the Birmingham club. "I'm not leaving," said the England midfielder, who had signed a new deal with Villa last season through to 2019 but had not travelled to Portugal for their pre-season training camp. "I'm staying at the football club and I can't wait for the start of the Premier League season."
Rodgers’ side play their first friendly against a Thai All Stars XI on Tuesday. Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini and José Enrique have all been left out of the tour, while the new signing Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Emre Can have been given extended leave following recent international tournaments. (Guardian Service)
