Football Editor of the Times Tony Evans has delivered a double blow to Liverpool after claiming that unsettled winger Raheem Sterling will leave the club this summer and Roberto Firmino is unlikely to be his replacement.
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Sterling’s future at Anfield has been the cause of much debate since his interview with BBC Sport back in April when he stated that he wished to put contract talks on hold until the end the season, amid speculation that he had rejected a new £100k-a-week contract offer.
Although before the season had finished his agent Aidy Ward revealed [via Standard Sport] that he would not be signing a new deal at the club, which in turn sparked interest from a number of clubs around Europe including Bayern Munich [via Mail Sport] and Real Madrid [via SkySports].
Liverpool had insisted they were not going to entertain any offers for the England international in the immediate aftermath of those revelations, however, their stance has softened in the last few weeks as they have slapped a £50million price-tag on Sterling’s head [via Telegraph Sport].
That valuation warded off Arsenal and Chelsea, but Manchester City remain in the race and have already seen two offers for the 20-year-old rejected by the Merseyside outfit [via BBC Sport].
Reports in Express Sport claim a third and final offer will be made in the coming days and Evans believes a bid of £40million plus add-ons will be enough to secure Sterling’s signature.
The Reds have been linked with a move for Brazilian star Roberto Firmino as a potential replacement for Sterling and have been tipped to pip Manchester United to the signing [via Mirror Online], however Evans has once again poured cold water over those rumours by insisting the Hoffenheim man is likely to join a club playing Champions League football next season.
Listen to the audio via the official talkSPORT website: