Raheem Sterling is not a popular man when it comes to Liverpool fans. Such a fact is not news, with the England international burning his Reds bridges when forcing through his £49m transfer to Man City back in the summer of 2015.
That might have been seven years ago now, with his former club going from strength-to-strength under Jurgen Klopp following his exit, and emerging as City’s closest title-rivals in recent years, but that has been little consolation to Kopites. When it comes to Sterling, time has been no healer.
Ever since Jon Flanagan flew into the winger to roaring cheers in the opening minutes of his Anfield return in March 2016, just days after City had overcome the Reds in the League Cup final at Wembley, he has been made well-aware of his standing with his departure taken most personally. This is war.
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With his every touch booed, it’s telling that the one time he has scored at his old stomping ground and tasted victory came in February 2021, behind closed doors, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic kept fans away from stadiums. Otherwise, for the majority of clashes with Liverpool, he has been withdrawn early following ineffectual displays or even been taken out of the firing line and left out of the starting XI.
Sterling isn’t the first player to leave the Reds in unceremonious circumstances and he won’t be the last. But the reason his exit stung that little bit more is he was only 20 at the time, yet to truly achieve anything at Anfield after spending the latter of his formative years in the Liverpool academy following a £450k move from Queens Park Rangers, potentially rising to £2m, in February 2010.
That and it was a slap in the face to the club that looked after him and finished his development before handing him his senior breakthrough, to leave for a club like City who had overnight been transformed into Premier League contenders by Aby Dhabi billions where he would be able to win the trophies that had been lacking at Anfield for far too long.
But then just three months after Sterling’s Liverpool exit, Klopp arrived at Anfield and promised to turn doubters into believers. In the seven years since, he had delivered every major honour going for the Reds, ending their 30-year drought to be crowned Premier League champions and delivering the one prize that continues to elude the 27-year-old and Man City - the Champions League.
Of course, Sterling won’t have any regrets about leaving Liverpool. He has won four Premier League titles, four League Cups and the FA Cup with Man City, scoring an impressive 131 goals in 339 appearances to cement his place as one of the best players in English football.
Yet his relationship with City fans is a curious one. With a year left on his contract, he looks set to leave the Etihad this summer after Chelsea lodged contact ahead of making a formal bid.
But unlike Reds supporters mourning Sadio Mane ’s departure to Bayern Munich in similar circumstances, City fans appear content to see him move on. Considering he has never seemed to fully convince Pep Guardiola, often finding himself left out of the starting XI for the biggest matches, that is no surprise.
Given his success at the Etihad, Sterling will depart as a Man City legend this summer. But not an adored one. In truth, fans are arguably happy to see him depart.
There will be no statue for him built outside the stadium, with him not as cherished as a Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Vincent Kompany or Yaya Toure. Even following their most famous quartet’s departures, who were all longer-serving than Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne has understandably been the man to fill the void in Man City hearts.
Since Guardiola became manager in 2016, only Aguero (124) has scored more goals for City than Sterling (120). Yet, unlike the Argentine, who become the club’s highest goalscorer and Kompany, the captain throughout it all, he has no title-winning strike. In the biggest games when silverware was up for grabs, his only offering is a late brace in a 6-0 FA Cup final win over Watford at a time when the cup was already won.
And when he had a chance to earn that adulation, starting upfront in City’s first ever Champions League final, he choked as they lost 1-0 to Chelsea. While De Bruyne limped off prematurely that night, departing injured and in tears, in contrast he is the player with the numbers and big-game moments that delivers silverware to the Etihad.
Signed the same summer as Sterling, he is the player Guardiola builds his side around. While De Bruyne wins him games, the England international’s legacy is arguably a frustrating one with supporters remembering his guilt-edged missed chances more than any goals. Not as good on the ball as some of his international team-mates, for a player so talented he makes the same mistakes again and again.
As much as Guardiola is happy to move on without Sterling, so too are the club’s fans. He has ultimately been left in the shadow of so many of his superstar colleagues. Klopp’s warning to his former Liverpool team-mate, Philippe Coutinho, has ultimately proven to be true for the winger too.
"Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour,” the German warned his Brazilian playmaker. “Go somewhere else… and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more."
Had Sterling stayed at Liverpool and achieved the same record as he has at City, he would be an adored club legend. Even if just earning the Reds’ success of recent years, he’d have been a loyal star who stayed and helped deliver that, for so long, elusive Premier League title. Instead, the decisions of an ill-advised, naive boy, seven years ago, leave him eternally tarred and unwanted by a place he once called him.
And the irony is had Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers in the summer of 2015 rather than a few months into the season, Sterling might well have stayed at Anfield. That’s certainly what his former agent Aidy Ward, the man who orchestrated his Reds departure, believed as he hit out at the Northern Irishman and bemoaned his client’s exit, insisting he should have still been a Liverpool player, when speaking to the Daily Mail following the German’s appointment.
“I became the bad guy, that's how I was portrayed,' Ward said. “It started from the PR behind Liverpool. There is no issue with the fans there, they don't know the full story, and there are lots of good people at Liverpool.
'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. 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.”
He continued: “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.'
“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.”
Neither Liverpool or Sterling will have regrets looking back. It worked out for the better for both club and player, but that doesn’t stop that feeling of what could have been. Not just if he’d stayed put but what exactly he could have achieved under the stewardship of the best man-manager in the business.
Roberto Firmino was arguably an indirect replacement for Sterling when brought in from Hoffenheim in a £29m move the same summer of the winger’s departure, with Mane a more like-for-like alternative when brought in from Southampton at the start of Klopp’s first full season. Forming two-thirds of the Reds’ now broken up famous front three, alongside Mohamed Salah, the trio will be regarded as some of the club’s greatest legends for what they have achieved at Anfield after their German manager turned them into genuinely world class stars.
And even if the Brazilian follows the Senegalese out of the exit door at the end of their contracts next summer, they will be celebrated and honoured for all they did while pulling on the famous Red shirt. They won it all and achieved the very maximum out of their talents while on Merseyside, yet admittedly might never have had the opportunity to be unleashed together had the Sterling stayed put.
The England star is left with ifs and buts, both at Anfield and the Etihad, ahead of this potential move to Chelsea. Hated by Liverpool and unloved by Man City, he won’t look back as he searches for belonging, having made no secret of his desire to play as much as possible and be a central figure in a team that challenges for major honours.
Should Sterling have achieved more at either club? For the Reds at least, his exit felt like such a waste. By joining Man City, he became just another player. Had he stayed with Liverpool, he could have been something more.
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