Liverpool have reached an agreement with Manchester City over the transfer of Raheem Sterling, according to Sky sources. And we also understand that the fee for the England international is £49m, subject to certain add ons. The forward must now agree personal terms and undergo a medical.
£49m = 68m€

• €7m add-ons, as it was not enough.

Well, perfect business by Liverpool, congratz. Thoughts?

Again , refer back to inflation comment ... also comparing construction and with players market ? Poor argument mate ... Cost of construction may change due to many factors . Location of the area , density of the area , class of people living in that area , work availability .. so many factors that have effect on cost of construction ....

1998 living in Fulham was not so expensive but now you be lucky to get extra square meter on your property for less than 8 thousand quids !!!

Football is about risk . City paid for the risk and you never know how and when it pays off . United bought Di maria for 60 milllion everyone thought he worth the price tag ... turns out he became very mediocre even for Argentina . We paid for Torres 50 million and Liverpool was happy but he paid it off by helping us win FA cup ( against former club ) , CL and Europa League . You never know , Di Maria may turn it around in coming season and become a hero for United .

Also we don't have many talents like Sterling . We have a huge problem , so that is why price tag high . It is justified because there is HUGE DEMAND and Scarcity of Supply of talent therefore higher prices . Economics 101 people .. good book read it

Huge demand for Sterling? Why don't we count the number of teams that wanted him or could've possibly wanted him.

Man City: Definite interest.
United: already bought Depay, and have Young and di Maria. Not interested
Arsenal: possible interest, but Wenger would be unlikely to purchase him with Alexis, the Ox, and Walcott already competing for wings. Wenger is also not known for splashing the cash for a player who isn't considered to be absolutely world-class
Spurs: were not interested
Chelsea: were not interested
Madrid: would never make it into squad
Barca: would never make it into squad
Atletico: were not interested
PSG: were not interested
Juventus: were not interested
Bayern: were not interested

As you can see, only two teams were genuinely reported to have been interested in purchasing Sterling, and of those two it is very obvious that Wenger isn't the type of manager to spend heavy on a young player who isn't considered to be world-class and isn't established at a top-order club.

Don't have many talents like Sterling? There are plenty of talents like Sterling. Deulofeu, Depay, El Shaarawy, Lucas, Bernard, Verratti, Rafinha, Calhanoglu... there's even Ross Barkley if you're looking at an English counterpart. There is no shortage of young midfield talent like Raheem Sterling, and the only clubs noted to have interest in Sterling were Arsenal and City. Once again, it doesn't justify his 49.000.000 Pound price tag.

You had mentioned inflation multiple times. Let's look at the most expensive players of all time adjusted for inflation for 2015 then.

1. Buffon - 55.3
2. Ronaldo - 55.7
3. Tevez - 57.5
4. Mendieta - 58.9
5. Falcao - 60.9
6. Rui Costa - 61
7. Luiz - 62.6
8. Cavani - 65
   12. Sterling - 69.7
9. Torres - 70
10. Kaka - 70.5
11. Crespo 70.7
12. Ibrahimovic - 74.9
13. di Maria - 75
14. Figo - 77.6
15. James - 79.5
16. Suarez - 81
17. Zidane - 92.1
18. Bale - 101.5
19. Ronaldo - 102.4

Notice that Sterling is more expensive than Cavani, who had just come off scoring 100+ goals for Napoli in just three seasons. Falcao was a similar transfer, coming off hot from 4 consecutive 40+ goal seasons. Rui Costa was raved as one of the top midfielders in the world. Ronaldo was the World Cup Golden Boot winner and a former Ballon d'Or winner. Mendieta was, at the time, a man who had been regarded as one of the finest midfield talents in the world and had just led his team to consecutive Champions League finals.

And you're telling me that Sterling is worth more than them? Surely a joke. Even with inflation taken into consideration, Sterling's price tag just seems all that much more ridiculous.

Im more sceptikal about his wages ( 200K ) rather than his price tag considering City is known to overpay for players who arent that good ( or that good yet in this case ), Mangala, Bony, Fernandinho...

Sterling will be the second highest salary of the squad 10K only behin Aguero the highest paid, he earns 3 times Zabaleta wages, 2.5 times Hart wages, same as Toure, more than Silva or any other dressing room leader.
Knowing the squad egos its not good, not good at all because if Raheem does not establish himself quickly, the squad may feel an injustice and would demand a salary raise wich is understandable.

Splashing a big amount on a player, isnt that shocking in this era, but this is the first time a youngster salary is that high, more than Neymar, Bale and James who are at the top of the best paid youngsters. Players like Verrati, Marquisio, Griezmann, Gotze who are all imo better atm than Sterling in term of maturity and experience earn 4 to 5 times less.

Anyway, overpriced not overpriced, i dont really care. What annoys me is his anti-football atitude, the way he treated his club who brought him into light was disgusting, if Sterling was a Chelsea player considering their squad quality, he would have been loaned and selled for a decent price 2 years later.

Sterling disrespected Liverpool and at the same time made a bad step for his progression, thats my opinion and i just gave a bold prediction based on instinct, i may be completely wrong tho.

I apologize , sometimes I do need to repeat my self 10 times , because people somehow don't understand what I write half of the time .

High Demand is for English talent . Englishman . British , the Anglo- Saxsons , Brave Heart movie type of Englishman but this one is black Englishman , still an Englishman . Basically The ones that speak english , hold English citizenship and play for English national team type of talent ...

Therefore higer price tag than any other players his age , higher wages and more speculations . City needs English talent and Sterling fits the demand and price is the question of how bad they need him . Pogba is exactly same thing . If PSG going to sign Pogba , it will be ridiculous price and wages , i can confidently assure you ..

This will change when FA and clubs fix our lack of young English talents .

@tiki

I agree . He has disrespected Liverpool . It was childish and unprofessional . However, let us also blame Brendan Rodgers who has 0 man management skills ... If Sterling was Chelsea player and did not want to play for us , then good luck to him , he would have been gone in first transfer window .

Maybe it's because I'm not from England, and having moved around a lot as a kid I don't feel massive loyalty to any nation, but I honestly do not understand why British players are worth so much. Beyond the fact that EPL teams want to seem like they aren't just hiring mercenaries, I don't get it. Shouldn't the pride at having a homegrown player be actually growing them? Like, from youth teams? I don't understand, someone explain to me in great depth because I don't get it.

Well here is my feeling on this, English teenagers can be identified to talented English players like in the past Beckham, Lampard, Gerard and become fans of those clubs at a young age. And in reality, you can change your wife, your job, your political opinions but never the club you support.
Considering Football is a capitalist sportive machine, even more in England, having some home grown players makes you win fans at an early age who will stay faithfull for the rest of their lives.

So its only based on buisness, and its very clear because the prices never lower even when players quality drop. There is no relationship with the nation pride or with the national team results because FA and clubs owners simply do not care, and the results are visible for decades now despite having some golden generations and world class players.

The prices of English players, however, are increasing drastically, far more than the inflation rate. English clubs are increasingly spending more on British talent than overseas talent. This inexplicably raises questions because English players of the 2010's are nowhere near the talent of the English players of the 1990's or 2000's. To put it simply: English players are increasing in price and decreasing in talent.

Almost forgot about the existence of Marcus... lol. Threads like this one will start to grow on replies.

the answer is Yes, he is one of the most overpriced players in recent years. I dont even know why argue about such a simple thing.

This is a joke, really. I mean he isn"t worth that much at all. in some games he was incosistent and useless, and this that kind of ego, a decent club wouldn't buy this guy. But City is sponsored by Abu Dhabi so it's fine, just throw cash away.

What City fans see.

What Liverpool fans see.

What optimistics see.

What pessimistics see.

What i think it will be.

What will happen in reality