Raheem Sterling could become the highest paid player in the Premier League with Manchester City preparing a whopping £450,000-a-week deal, in order to fend off interest from Real Madrid.
Since Pep Guardiola became manager at City, Sterling has become one of the team’s most important players and considering his age could be a leader in the side for another eight years.
He only signed a new deal last November but, according to the Daily Express, could be handed a new mega deal by the team, which would leave him on over £23 million-a-year.
The report claims that the deal is with a view to stopping any potential move for Sterling from Real Madrid, with Los Blancos still short of Galacticos and attacking threat, despite a big summer of signings.
Any move for Sterling would likely cost Real in the region of £200 million but that’s unlikely to put Florentino Perez off considering his history of signing big name players.
According to The Athletic last month a representative of the player met with Perez’s second in command at Real, Jose Angel Sanchez, although there was no danger of the La Liga side moving for the forward at the time.
Los Blancos had already signed Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic up front and the priority was to sign a midfielder, with Paul Pogba and Christian Eriksen top of the list, though neither happened.
The article goes on to say that Sterling wouldn’t think about a move away for at least two years but that comes with a warning that things could change.
Real offer riches beyond just the money involved with the prestige of playing for the most successful side in Champions League history, especially with the prospect of being the one to return them to glory.
Zinedine Zidane is under pressure at the Bernabeu despite only rejoining the club towards the end of the season.
Despite a big outlay on transfers in the summer the Frenchman is still largely picking players who have been at the club for sometime, they have just one point from their first two Champions League games and a loss to Mallorca on the weekend knocked them off top spot in the league.
There’s little doubt that Sterling would improve them, or any other team, with the former Liverpool forward scoring six times in eight appearances in the league so far.
The 24-year-old has come a long way since Euro 2016. That summer Guardiola had just arrived at City and his performances for England led many to question if he had a long term future at the Etihad Stadium.
Three years on he could be about to sign a deal worth nearly half a million-a-week in order to stop one of the biggest clubs in football signing him.
sportbible.com
sportbible.com
