Liverpool star Raheem Sterling missed training for the second day in a row on Thursday, reports the Daily Express.
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The 20-year-old missed a session on Wednesday through illness, and has failed to report in again the day after.
Perhaps more pertinently, the England international has told manager Brendan Rodgers that he wants to leave the club, and doesn’t want to be picked for their pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia according to the Express.
Manchester City are interested in the player, but aren’t willing to match the Reds’ £50 million valuation [Daily Mirror]. This could mean that the player will be stuck at Anfield despite his pleas to leave, this would be a very awkward situation given that fans have taken to booing the youngster after the antics of his agent, Aidy Ward.
The winger’s representative claimed that his client won’t sign a new deal with the Merseyside outfit even if they offer him £900,000 a week [Daily Mirror], making his position at the club almost untenable. Since then the situation seems to have worsened, with the player not even turning up for training.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Thursday morning, former Liverpool midfielder Jason McAteer blamed City for stirring up the forward and encouraging him to misbehave in such a way as to push forward a transfer away from Anfield.
Liverpool may not be too worried about losing the forward as they have already signed Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian is a similar player to Sterling, and scored 12 goals and got 10 assists to the Englishman’s eight of each last season.