Sterling

[bannblue]

A big NO from me.

[Swiss]

no

Is that better?

[nimrod]

no

Is that better?

I'll remind you of that when he bangs in 28 goals next season 

swap him for Dzeko

[Swiss]

was in reference to bannblue's "big no" comment!

But i doubt he'll be banging in that many considering he got 8 this year!

[nimrod]

was in reference to bannblue's "big no" comment!

But i doubt he'll be banging in that many considering he got 8 this year!

aye but thats with Henderson & Co

[Swiss]

This season: Liverpool created 423 chances. Last season 488

In contrast:
City: This 522: Last 533
Chelsea: 444: 506
Arsenal: 452: 404

[KunDB]

The stats I have seen show Sterling is light years ahead of anyone at his age. The thing is it does not overly matter how good his stats are at the moment it is how good will they develop and be in the next few years. If we have to buy HG we could do a lot worse than Sterling, and have bought a lot worse in recent history.

Typical paper wars Sterling started being reported as a £35m target for City and now it has steadily crept up to £60m (Daily Fail), as they compete against each other to sell copy.

Stats Comparison to Walcott

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Chelsea clearly more efficient in front of goal then.

At least we look consistent! A difference of only 11 chances created across a full season is no difference at all.

[Swiss]

Still one more game to play so I assume we'll create approx 11 chances... hopefully...

The stats I have seen show Sterling is light years ahead of anyone at his age. The thing is it does not overly matter how good his stats are at the moment it is how good will they develop and be in the next few years. If we have to buy HG we could do a lot worse than Sterling, and have bought a lot worse in recent history.

Typical paper wars Sterling started being reported as a £35m target for City and now it has steadily crept up to £60m (Daily Fail), as they compete against each other to sell copy.

Stats Comparison to Walcott

He's undoubtedly got potential, but you don't spank £30m to £40m on potential, especially not one that's courting negative press like he does. All I'm seeing is another Yaya with his shit house agent stirring crap when he should be getting his head down and playing games.

I just don't think he's got that professional attitude and the extra bit of skill to take him to the next level that would court such a high fee.

[zacc]

Sterling needs his temperament to develop as well as his playing skills.
Appreciate he's still a young man but if he coud  take a leaf from Super Frankie Lampard book & get his head down work hard, become an ambassador for the game on & off the field, he might start to be worth the price tags papers are bandying about.

[Ludo]

It's strange that we're using Sterling's comments, along with those of his agent, against him yet when Fernandinho was doing a similar thing with Shaktar we didn't mind.

[lee]

can we have levazzi for a couple of years instead or robben

[goat]

not sure he would even be in my top 10 targets

[Swiss]

It's strange that we're using Sterling's comments, along with those of his agent, against him yet when Fernandinho was doing a similar thing with Shaktar we didn't mind.

I missed those, what did he say?

[Ludo]

Wasn't he on twatter at the time saying how much he wanted to leave and that Shaktar were asking too much money etc etc....

[KunDB]

WORTH A READ

Story Link

Fingers on buzzers for a quickfire numbers round: £35,000 a week; £100,000 a week; “He is not signing for £700,000, £800,000, £900,000 a week.” Name the footballer. You knew instantly that it was Raheem Sterling â€" and the figures were, in turn, his current salary, Liverpool’s new contract offer, and the dismissive response of his agent, Aidy Ward. Meanwhile Sterling’s potential transfer fee increasingly seems subject to Weimar Republic levels of hyperinflation â€" from £40m earlier in the week to £60m in one Sunday paper.

Meanwhile the country appears split down the middle. On the one hand we have Sterling the wunderkind, who made his England debut at 17 and won Europe’s Golden Boy 2014. On the other, there are the doomsayers who warn that he might be another Aaron Lennon, his football talents prematurely frozen in carbonite. As one poster on a Liverpool forum put it recently: “His shooting has been poor, his crossing poor, and the only thing he was good at was taking selfies on his mid-season holiday.”

Then there are the professional fenceâ€'sitters, who fatuously state that Sterling is a work in progress. Of course he is â€" he’s 20. Even Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi were at that age. A far more interesting exercise is to try to figure out how Sterling compares with other top attacking midfielders/wing forwards when they were 20 â€" and that requires a broader range of figures than ones with pound signs and rows of zeros after them.

So far in his Premier League career Sterling has scored 18 goals in 95 games (a rate of 0.23 goals per 90 minutes) and 14 assists (0.18 per 90 minutes). This season â€" during which he has turned 20 â€" he has seven goals, seven assists and has created 75 chances in 35 games. Those numbers are pretty good. Especially given Liverpool have lost Luis Suárez, been largely without Daniel Sturridge, and have seen Steven Gerrard coming out much the worse from a crunching challenge with Father Time.

In particular those 75 chances created stand out. The season Ronaldo turned 20, he created 49 chances in 33 games for Manchester United, and Messi managed 40 from 28 matches. David Silva registered 40 from 34 matches, Gareth Bale 39 from 23 matches and Theo Walcott 22 from 25 matches. Sterling trumps them all.


Advertisement



Indeed, only Eden Hazard and Mesut Özil posted better chance creation numbers at the same age. And remember, Sterling did this in a Liverpool side that struggled to get past 50 Premier League goals. Last season they scored 101.

Admittedly, Sterling isn’t quite at the very top table when you rank players based on their goals and assists by the age of 20. Lionel Messi stands alone (he was scoring nearly three goals every four games even then) with Hazard and Arjen Robben the next best, albeit in the weaker Ligue 1 and Eredivisie. But Sterling’s numbers either match up, or are better than, everyone else in his position.

The comparisons with Sterling and Ronaldo at 20 are also worth exploring. At that age Ronaldo was not the goalscoring terminator he is now. According to Opta, he had played 64 Premier League games, scoring nine goals (0.2 per 90 minutes) and creating eight assists (0.18 per 90 minutes). Of course these numbers don’t tell you everything. Ronaldo was already an immense talent. He had starred in an FA Cup final and had a decent Euro 2004. But at 20 his raw numbers weren’t any better than Sterling’s. He certainly wasn’t a world beater.

There are other caveats, too. Young players mature at different rates, and past performance is not always a guarantee of future success. But as Omar Chaudhuri, the head of football intelligence at 21st Club points out, Sterling’s numbers have not been inflated by unsustainable hot streaks, which therefore makes what we have seen so far a decent indicator of what will happen from now on.

Chaudhuri, who works with several top European clubs, also makes another point. When it comes to highly rated young players, the transfer market has often got it right. He points to the list of the 25 most expensive under-23 signings in history. The top five? Neymar, James Rodríguez, Gianluigi Buffon, Rio Ferdinand and Sergio Agüero. Wayne Rooney, Fernando Torres (from Atlético Madrid to Liverpool), Hazard, Robben and Ronaldinho are also on the list.

There are duds in there too â€" Andy Carroll for one. But there are far fewer mistakes than in the list of big-money transfers from 23-30, which includes Kaká’s transfer to Real Madrid. Torres’s move to Chelsea, Gaizka Mendieta’s move to Lazio and many other flops.

As Chaudhuri puts it: “It’s also interesting that a lot of prodigies in Sterling’s position â€" Ronaldo, Hazard, Mata, Bale, Özil â€" were at least 21 before they made their first big-money move, which tells us a couple of things. First, that clubs are already willing to spend big on Sterling â€" and probably have been for a year, so since he’s been 19 â€" reflects his ability and potential. And second that his value is likely to be nowhere near its peak.”

Does this mean Sterling will develop into one of the best players in the world? We can’t be certain. But we can say this. There is an enormous amount to like about his football already and the odds are that he will get much better.

[reddishblue]

"Does this mean Sterling will develop into one of the best players in the world? "

Not a chance.

[andy1966]

No he's a diver , not the type of player id like to see at City

[clevblue]

Like his EDS teammates, Iheanacho was overlooked for City's 2-0 win over Southampton, however Head of Player Recruitment Gary Worthington insisted the teenager had a bright future with The Blues.

“Kelechi is back scoring goals after his injury. After what he showed in recent games like that against Manchester United, he is very much part of the first-team plans for next season,” Worthington told African Football.

[bry the guy]

I dont remember seeing his name on the team list of the players that have gone but jimmy has flown with them.