The club sold him on for a gigantic profit after his first-team breakthrough.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp arrived at Anfield in 2015 and has been able to oversee a successful period for the club on and off the pitch.
Who have been Liverpool’s biggest sales under Klopp?
The German head coach has developed and coached players throughout his time on Merseyside and this has allowed the side to benefit from their talent, on the field or in the transfer market.
Player
Fee sold for
Philippe Coutinho
£116m
Fabinho
£40m
Sadio Mane
£27.4m
Christian Benteke
£26.7m
Valuations via Transfermarkt
However, the Reds did some phenomenal trading with players prior to Klopp’s arrival in England. The likes of Fernando Torres, Raheem Sterling, and Luis Suarez all came in and excelled on the pitch before moving on for significant fees.
Sterling, in particular, was a player who Liverpool played a masterclass with as they snapped him up as a youngster for a minimal fee and were able to turn him into a record-breaking star.
How much did Liverpool pay for Raheem Sterling?
The English dynamo began his youth career with Queens Park Rangers in London and completed a move to Anfield in the summer of 2010 for a reported fee of £450k rising to £2m.
Transfermarkt do not have the statistics for his debut campaign with the U18 side during the 2010/11 season but he did make the step up to the U21s the following term and caught the eye with his performances at the top end of the pitch.
Sterling contributed with eight goals and ten assists in 22 U21 outings, which included six goals and seven assists in 19 Reserve League clashes.
Brendan Rodgers arrived as first-team manager in the summer of 2012 and the Northern Irish boss decided to offer the then-teenager an opportunity to showcase his talent at first-team level.
How well did Sterling perform for Liverpool?
The Jamaican-born ace racked up two goals and six assists across 36 senior appearances for the Reds throughout the 2012/13 campaign, with all of those goal contributions coming in his 24 Premier League matches.
Sterling stepped up to become a regular fixture on the wing for Liverpool the following season. He played in 33 of their 38 top-flight games and chipped in with an impressive nine goals and seven assists from out wide, whilst the exciting ace also hit double figures for goals for the first time in his senior career with one strike in the League Cup on top of his nine league goals.
The England international, who made his debut for the Three Lions in November 2012, then contributed with 11 goals and ten assists across 52 outings in all competitions during the 2014/15 campaign. This included seven goals and eight assists in 35 league matches.
However, the 5 foot 8 wizard did struggle in Europe as he only managed one assist and failed to score in six Champions League clashes that term.
Overall, these statistics show that Sterling was a reliable performer at Premier League level in spite of his young age as he regularly contributed with goals and assists from a wide position.
He thrived alongside the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez in attack. However, it was a shame that the trio did not win a major trophy for the club during their time together at Anfield.
This made the then-20-year-old a valuable asset to the football club and they eventually opted to cash in on his rising market value in the summer of 2015.
How much did Liverpool sell Raheem Sterling for?
Liverpool raked in a staggering, at the time, fee of £49m from Premier League rivals Manchester City for the talented youngster’s signature, which made him the most expensive English player in history at the time and the second-most expensive British player behind Gareth Bale.
This means that Liverpool made a whopping £47m profit on the initial £2m package they splashed out to sign him from QPR five years prior to his move to The Etihad.
Sterling’s market value soared by an eye-catching 2,350% in the process and Rodgers deserves huge credit for having the belief in the English hotshot to make him a first-team regular at such a young age.
It potentially sped up his progress as it allowed him to develop and thrive in a senior environment, instead of playing youth team football for another couple of years, which led to his fantastic performances on the pitch attracting interest from the Cityzens.
Therefore, Liverpool played a masterclass with Sterling as they brought him in for a relatively modest fee from QPR and were able to turn him into a record-breaking sale within five years.
Where is Sterling now?
The 28-year-old magician, who was recently described as “electric” by Statman Dave, currently plays for Chelsea in the Premier League and has scored 11 goals in 42 appearances for the Blues to date.
He arrived at Stamford Bridge last year for a reported fee of £47.5m and found the back of the net six times in 28 top-flight matches during his first year with the club.
His current spell in London comes after a phenomenal spell with Manchester City after his record-breaking move to The Etihad from Liverpool in 2015.
In seven years with the Cityzens, Sterling racked up goals and trophies in abundance. He ended his time in Manchester with an eye-catching 131 goals and 95 assists in 339 matches in all competitions, to go along with 12 trophies – including four Premier League titles.
His best season with City was arguably the 2018/19 campaign. Sterling averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.42 across 34 top-flight games and contributed with an outstanding 17 goals and ten assists, which led to him being named the PFA Young Player of the Year.
The lightning-quick maestro created 12 ‘big chances’ for his teammates and completed 2.4 dribbles per match as he showcased his ability to carry his team up the pitch whilst also being able to provide quality end product on a regular basis.
Overall, Liverpool and Manchester City both came out as winners in the deal to send Sterling to The Etihad in 2015. The Reds received a record fee for an English player and were able to enjoy his talents for a few years and then City had a phenomenal performer for a number of seasons before they sold him for only slightly less than what they paid for him
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