by Lachlan Ballingall (@L_Ballingall)
Everyday before I head of to university I check social media. Being interested in a variety of sports I like to check all the teams I support and their latest news. The one area that concerns me most when I scroll down to Liverpool Football Clubs news is the fact that I continuously see ongoing talk about certain players contracts. The question is, why is it taking so long to sort them out?
There’s no denying everyone around the world wants to be payed the absolute maximum for the hard work and dedication they put in. This very much applies to footballers. Players of the modern day want to be payed for the performance level they achieve whilst also the hard work they put in. The problem is, I don’t believe FSG are up to the modern ways. Footballers around the world look at the wages of opposition players are on and automatically believe they could earn equal or even more. Don’t get me wrong, footballers are overpaid but if you want the best players you need to pay at the top to get them. It is clear FSG want to do everything on the cheap. You will never see them splashing a huge sum of money around on a individual player. They see quantity more than quality. With them wanting to do everything on the cheap, they will offer the minimum to a player when it comes to signing a new contract.
A players contract I see far to much talk about in the press and in the media is Raheem Sterling’s. Raheem Sterling’s contract has been in talks for months now. As the public, we simply have no idea when this contract will be sorted out. Many people suggest he is being unreasonable with the amount he wants and so did I at first. It had me thinking though, when I saw a statistic of Sterling’s game time compared to others in the squad, he had played more minutes than most and had contributed far more. I’m a big believer that the top earners in the club should be those who win games for the club. Raheem Sterling for me does that and it had me concerned when his contract expires sooner than what we all want. FSG and the club need to get Raheem Sterling’s contract sorted before it’s too late.
Another player, who I believe is the next captain for Liverpool is Jordan Henderson. Captains for me should always be earning more than most in the squad simply because of the fact they deal with more pressure. Recent news has been reported than Henderson turned down a contract of £80,000 a week. I have seen many people suggest that he isn’t worth anymore than that but with Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard off the lists next season, surely it can’t be too difficult to give the future captain the fair amount? I also believe his performance level is continuously improving and he has played more minutes this most this season as well. Henderson deserves a top wage, he fights for his life everyday at this club and sums up everything great about Liverpool Football Club as a whole.
I do continuously see the public suggesting a lot of the players aren’t worth what they earn or what they want to earn. I think it’s time FSG and the club step up and pay the players more so we can build a future and stop loosing players to rival clubs. If we aren’t going to pay up, someone else will. I don’t like what players are payed, but if you want to keep them then it needs to be done. I don’t want to see the club go through another rebuilding faze. I can honestly see this Liverpool side achieving great things providing they keep the key players like Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson. You only have to look at what impact loosing Luis Suarez did in the first half of the season. I think I talk for all the supporters here, we can’t afford to go through another period like that. People need to be realistic now and accept that overpaying players is the only way to keep them to build success and win trophies. It has been far to long since we have won the league and this side has shown over the last couple of months it is more than capable of providing performances on a regular basis.