Raheem Sterling 'has gone up a tier' by leaving Liverpool, says agent Aidy Ward

On the up: Ward is adamant Sterling has thrived at Manchester City
Ian Walton/Getty Images
Sam Long16 November 2015

Raheem Sterling 'has gone up a tier' by joining Manchester City from Liverpool, according to the England international's agent Aidy Ward.

The 20-year-old completed a £50m move to the Etihad Stadium in the summer, which made him the most expensive English footballer in history.

Many Liverpool fans were angered by the forward's acrimonious departure and Sterling received a flurry of criticism for his perceived eagerness to leave Anfield.

"Moving to City was right for Raheem, even if Liverpool fans don’t want to accept that," Ward told the Mirror. "At City, he now has a licence to thrill."

Ward also claimed that Sterling was misused by Liverpool but believes the forward is now being given a chance to attack by his new employers.

"At Liverpool, Raheem was asked to play as a full-back, just like Emre Can was asked to play as a central defender when he is a midfielder. That wasn’t going to help him develop as a player.

England training ahead of France friendly

1/8

"He has gone up a tier. Manuel Pellegrini has played him in a wide role with the freedom to drift inside and he has also played as a central striker."

Sterling has scored four goals in 11 Premier League appearance for City this season and is expected to start when they host Liverpool on Saturday evening.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in