da premier bet： As one Liverpool legend’s Anfield career came to its anti-climactic conclusion last weekend in the defeat to Crystal Palace, another player may have pulled the curtain on his own time on Merseyside.
da realbet： As Steven Gerrard soaked up the adulation from the loving crowd, Raheem Sterling vanished down the Anfield tunnel for what is looking more and more like the final time.
Although his deal still has two years to run, the England international, if reports are to be believed, has turned down a whopping contract offer from the Liverpool chiefs and is ready to move on to pastures new this summer. The winger has reportedly already told Brendan Rodgers that he wishes to move on and if his reception at the club’s awards ceremony is to be believed, this act of brinkmanship may have burned too many bridges this time.
Liverpool have been insistent they won’t sell the 20-year-old, following on from losing Luis Suarez last summer many saw the potential of losing the forward as another sign of their diminishing power in the national game.
However, they should not be held to ransom by the player, for all of his potential he is yet to enjoy anywhere near the level of influence of the Uruguayan and if his recent performances are anything to go by, he is by no means irreplaceable.
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In fact, as Sterling trudged off the pitch last weekend, Anfield rose to salute the opposition’s wide man. For 90 minutes Yannick Bolasie tormented Liverpool, he turned Dejan Lovren into a retreating wreck of a defender and consistently outshone his more illustrious and over hyped counterpart.
When Crystal Palace were rampaging their way back to Premier League football under Ian Hollloway, Wilfried Zaha gained nearly all of the plaudits for their dynamic play. So while Zaha went off to Old Trafford, Bolasie honed his craft and has now turned himself into one of the most devastating wingers in the English game.
Although he only has six goals this season, he has been a vital component in turning The Eagles fortunes around. In his early years at Palace he was constantly let down by his poor final product, this is something that, to his credit, he has addressed and his quality is improving with every passing week.
Officials at Selhurst park have supposedly put a figure of £40million on the 25-year-old’s head, but of course this is more a statement of intent than what the Londoners will genuinely covet for the Congolese international.
It now seems inevitable that Sterling’s Liverpool career will end before it has truly begun, but this is not Luis Suarez all over again. Where Suarez was central to everything that the team did, replaced by very few in world football; Sterling can be swapped without doing too much harm to the overall quality of the team.
As Rodgers was watching his side be destroyed by Bolasie his insistence of holding onto Sterling will have surely waned; it will not be the end of Liverpool should Sterling leave; in fact it may be the perfect opportunity to bring in one of the most exciting talents that the league has to offer.
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