Sterling Trades Merseyside for Manchester

The Fresh Prince of Merseyside has (finally) signed with Manchester City for a reported £49m, ending the saga that has plagued Liverpool fans for many months. The contract will see Sterling earn over £180,000 per week and, more importantly, work under a new coach not named Brandon Rodgers.

While there is no doubt that the 20 year old has superb talent, the high price tag is almost purely based on the bright future that he has. While he will definitely develop into one of the better players of the current generation of footballers, there are still questions over his touch, endurance and overall finishing. He is projected to be Theo Walcott 2.0 but if he keeps up his current form then he'll be lucky to even reach the level Theo Walcott is on right now. He can be a very selfish player at times, failing to make the right pass and opting to try and outpace opponents rather than play the simple ball.

Knowing what Manchester City does to players, don't be surprised if Sterling falls flat during his five year contract. He is a very fragile player that is susceptible to injuries and can become lazy when it comes to defensive duties. Scott Sinclair showed similar promise (to a lesser degree) when he moved from Swansea to City but he ended up on the wrong end of the bench and eventually sold. Sterling has the potential to thrive at Manchester City but there are so many questions that probably won't be answered due to possible lack of playing time. Look no further than Robinho, the first ever marquee signing for Manchester City. While his dazzling feets and goal scoring skills were off to a sublime start at the beginning of his Citizens career, the end of it was far from spectacular and saw him move back to Brazil. His first season saw him score 14 goals and his second season he scored only one. Against Scunthorpe in the FA Cup. He missed 3 months of the second season due to injury and fell out of the hierarchy. You read it here first: the same thing is going to happen to Sterling.

Liverpool fans are laughing so hard right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn1Rmg-dvQ4

To put the deal into context, here are some of the more prolific signings of recent times:

Mesut Ozil: £42.5m

Alexis Sanchez: £36m

Eden Hazard: £32m

Diego Costa: £32m

Luis Suarez: £65m

Gareth Bale: £85.3m

Cristiano Ronaldo: £80m