According to reports from The Daily Mail yesterday morning, agent Aidy Ward has surprisingly claimed Manchester City star Raheem Sterling should be playing under Liverpool’s new manager Jurgen Klopp.
The England international’s outspoken representative told London Evening Standard in May that Sterling wouldn’t extend his contract past 2017 even if Liverpool offered nine times the £100k per-week salary already on the table, paving the way for a controversial £49million move to Manchester City in July.
The 20 year-old’s hat-trick heroics against Bournemouth last Saturday suggest it may well prove to be a very wise investment a few years down the line – but Ward has insisted Sterling should still be at Liverpool playing under Brendan Rodgers’ successor Jurgen Klopp.
He claims his only genuine issue with the Liverpool set up was Rodgers and particularly the manner in which he handled Sterling’s contract situation.
The 34 year-old explained to The Daily Mail’s Adrian Durham; “I had no problem with (chief executive) Ian Ayre for example. I have no issue with anyone but Rodgers. He had a massive job with massive funds. How did he do? Good coach, but as a manager I didn’t like certain things about how he dealt with Raheem. Fifty per cent of the players would probably tell you Brendan is not a good manager, but he is a good coach.”
“Raheem could’ve stayed, he should be at Liverpool. I think for me it was like he was being told to be a good boy and sign a contract. In December I spoke to Liverpool and said we’ll sign a contract if there is a buy-out clause – those clauses are now common practice. They said no to that.
“Then there was an underhandedness, there were sly remarks. In press conferences, Brendan told everyone Raheem would sign – why do that? I knew, Brendan knew and Liverpool knew there was an issue. Right now he probably should be a Liverpool player, but he’s not and he’s in a great place at City.”
Ward then discussed Klopp’s recent appointment as Anfield gaffer earlier this month; “The new Liverpool manager probably would have been a great fit for Raheem – passionate, disciplined in the right way, new ideas, not afraid of trying new things. He’ll do great at Liverpool.
“Would Raheem under Klopp have been a good scenario? Yes, 100 per cent, definitely, mainly because of the person Klopp is – the passion, the drive, the emotion, wanting to achieve. Raheem has all of this, but you won’t always see it outwardly. Working with Klopp – that could have been great. He’s going to get the best out of those players. It could have been a dream come true.”
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