Kolo Toure has warned Raheem Sterling off a potential move, and in the process implied he thinks Manchester City is a bigger club.
The Liverpool defender said that Sterling is in the right place to continue his development, and he should snub interest from competing clubs. ‘This boy is a fantastic player,’ Toure said in an interview with the Liverpool Echo. ‘I’m not surprised there’s speculation because everybody would want to have a player like him. But he needs to stay here. Liverpool is a great place for him’.
Toure used Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair as two examples of players moving too soon and their development being stunted. The Ivorian was at Manchester City when the pair signed in 2012, only to have their first-team chances extremely limited.
‘Both Rodwell and Sinclair went to a club where there is big competition and didn’t play.’ Toure said. ‘If Raheem left Liverpool he wouldn’t be sure to start games. Make a mistake or don’t score for two games and he will be on the bench. There is no messing at clubs like that’.
‘Raheem is still only 20 and this is the best place for him to continue learning. He’s very important to this club’.
Toure also calls Liverpool a ‘massive club’ in the interview, but his comment that ‘there is no messing at clubs like that’ may irk some Liverpool fans.
The club finished just behind City in the Premier League last year, and beat them at Anfield this season, yet Toure seems to imply that their Manchester rivals are a level above Liverpool.
In financial terms, that is the case, and Toure may not have directly meant that Liverpool are a lesser prospect than City, but it he does seem to think Sterling will eventually leave Anfield.
‘He needs to stay at Liverpool for at least two more years to go to the next level. Then he could look at it again. He’s an intelligent boy and I’m sure he will make the right decision… Raheem has been given a great opportunity at Liverpool and has done very well. He needs to stay here to keep progressing as a player’.
‘This is a massive club and he has a manager who believes in him. There’s a lot more to come from Raheem and he needs to be in an environment where he can really express himself’.
H/T Liverpool Echo.
