Liverpool are ****e now. Haven't you noticed?
I don't think he could get more money anywhere else. Anyone else would need to pay a big transfer fee, whereas Liverpool can just bang the spare money onto his contract and then recoup it if they sell him later. If anyone does outbid Liverpool for Sterling it'll be because they rate him much more highly, in which case he's well within his rights to go.
So the mercenary stuff only makes sense if he really wants to stay, and he's just doing this for show in an effort to make Liverpool offer him more money. If that's the case then Liverpool are ****ing him around by offering him less than he's worth and using the media to demean him into accepting it. But I think the more likely scenario is that, like basically every footballer, he wants to play CL football and challenge for trophies in a top-level team.
I know you don't change your mind on things, but I felt like ranting about this anyway and you put up a good straw man.
I think you're really missing the point here.
Sterling saying he would have signed if he was offered a contract in the summer is really his way of passing the buck, you have to be a bit naive to assume he didn't know Suarez was leaving - and if anything, the squad has been pumped with plenty of money so on the whole we're on an upward trend compared to most of his time at the club.
And you have me wrong. I'm all for his rights and getting his market value if he wishes. Pretty sure I even argued here that even at 150k his demands are a no-brainer and if the club didn't sign him simply to save money then heads should roll.
The discussion wasn't about that really, it was the way he and his agent have done everything. Liverpool has made it clear that they won't sell him. If Raheem felt the offer wasn't good enough or it wasn't about the money anyway; he could finish the rest of his contract or perhaps wait another season. Or he could put in an agreement that he ups his wages for the time being but if another club comes he can go - which is what happened with Suarez mid 2013/14 season - and that would also allow the club to ask for more money when he's sold. A win-win situation.
When Liverpool were in the midst of negotiating with him, Rodgers would get endless questions about what is happening with the contract negotiations - it is obvious his agent had leaked this information to the press to get his client suitors who're paying attention. And when Rodgers said we've given him what we think is a substantial offer, he booked that stupid unapproved interview and broke club policy - which actually made him look worse - and it is being claimed that the club forced his hand. In that interview, he said he wouldn't decide until the end of the season.
Fast forward to now, the season hasn't even ended and he is trying to put pressure on the club to sell him this transfer window. It shows he has been working inbetween for something else and hasn't been negotiating in good faith. Now if you accept that players have a right to go for the highest wages they can get; you also have to agree that he's already signed a contract and has two seasons left. It does nothing but weaken Liverpool's bargaining power for him to kick up such a fuss now. Nor has it helped him or the team between that time in the interview and now.
You can agree or disagree with a lot of things; but let's not pretend that people thinking he's a bit of a dick don't have cause here. He could get what he wants without the shady underhanded nonsense through the media. I think that's what was riling Carra up and many of the former pros. I mean, what is a contract worth then if you never intend to honour it? You sign for 4 years and then kick up such a PR stink that the club has to sell you in 2? That's the definition of being a dick.
And while I've never been an advocate of moves that tend to cut your nose off to spite your face; I'd love it if Henry did the same thing he did for Suarez and put his foot down. Even risked losing money over it. You don't want to set this precedent for a club like ours, who have major ambitions, by being manhandled by the demands of such a player. If it means in the long-run other players think twice, or it gets the respect of other incoming players; then that might mean more than the immediate financial gain.
Guess it all depends what you term a 'big' club. To me history is a huge part of it and it's why Forest Green fans are having a lend when they say their player who just joined us took a sideways step. 
