Klopp would have been perfect for Sterling, says agent

Raheem Sterling's agent has suggested the attacker
would not have left Liverpool for Manchester City had
Jurgen Klopp been in charge before.

Manchester City attacker Raheem Sterling's agent - Aidy Ward -
has suggested the England international might have stayed at
Liverpool had he known Brendan Rodgers would have been
replaced with Jurgen Klopp.

The 20-year-old joined City ahead of the 2015-16 campaign for
a transfer fee in the region of £49 million and Sterling's
representative has now revealed the presence of Rodgers was
one of the main reasons behind his decision to move on.

"The new Liverpool manager probably would have been a great
fit for Raheem - passionate, disciplined in the right way, new
ideas, not afraid of trying new things. He'll do great at
Liverpool," Ward told The Daily Mail.

"Would Raheem under Klopp have been a good scenario? Yes,
100 per cent, definitely, mainly because of the person Klopp is -
the passion, the drive, the emotion, wanting to achieve. Raheem
has all of this, but you won't always see it outwardly. Working
with Klopp - that could have been great. He's going to get the
best out of those players. It could have been a dream come
true.

"Raheem could've stayed, he should be at Liverpool. In
December I spoke to Liverpool and said we'll sign a contract if
there is a buy-out clause - those clauses are now common
practice. They said no to that. Then there was an
underhandedness, there were sly remarks.

"In press conferences, Brendan told everyone Raheem would
sign - why do that? I knew, Brendan knew and Liverpool knew
there was an issue. I have no issue with anyone but Rodgers:

he had a massive job with massive funds.

"How did he do? Good coach, but as a manager I didn't like
certain things about how he dealt with Raheem. Fifty per cent of
the players would probably tell you Brendan is not a good
manager, but he is a good coach."

Sterling had also been linked with clubs such as Bayern Munich,
Real Madrid and Arsenal before eventually joining City and Ward
has claimed that he had been in touch with all of Europe's big
guns apart from Barcelona.

He added: "The only club I didn't speak to from all the super-
powers was Barcelona - they were the only ones, and that was
because they had a transfer embargo, so it was pointless.

"But you know Xavi came out and said Raheem is a world-class
player in the making and could play at Barca in the future.

"In the end it was Manchester City and I thought he's got a job
to do, go and do it, and he's doing it. Right now he probably
should be a Liverpool player, but he's not and he's in a great
place at City."