Gary Neville Sounds Warning to Liverpool Amid Raheem Sterling Transfer Rumours

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has issued a blunt warning to Liverpool, a club that he claims is “living in the past” and is in danger of becoming "provincial."  

The player-turned-pundit, writing in his column for the Daily Telegraph, has insisted it’s “no surprise” stars like Raheem Sterling are keen to leave Anfield. According to Neville, this situation has been manifesting for a long time:

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The prospect of losing Sterling will be a major concern for everybody connected to the club, but the uncomfortable truth is that this is nothing new for Liverpool.

Just look back over the past 10-15 years and count the number of players who have left Anfield to pursue bigger and better things elsewhere. Steve McManaman, Michael Owen, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez have all gone.

Steven Gerrard is also being allowed to leave and, although his circumstances are different, there is no way in a million years that Liverpool should be allowing him to pack up and sign for LA Galaxy.

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Sterling has been at the centre of a contract wrangle this year, with his agent insisting he will not be signing an extension with Liverpool. It’s a decision which has prompted criticism aplenty for both the player and his representative, with some insisting that remaining at Anfield would be best for his development, per Sky Sports.

But Neville writes that while Liverpool remains a prestigious footballing institution, when compared to the likes of Manchester United, they’ve been left behind in the Premier League era at the expense of clinging on to emotive ties:

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I have lost count of the times Liverpool have unveiled plans for a new stadium at Stanley Park, only to end up staying at Anfield because of the history of the place and the fervour of the Kop. In the early 90s when United made their move, Liverpool should have been on their coat tails.

But Anfield has held them back because every other big club—with the exception of Chelsea, who are owned by a Russian billionaire—has moved forward already, either by vastly increasing their current stadium or building a new one.

The emotional ties are given too much weight—that emotion played its part in the performance that led to Crystal Palace winning at Anfield in Gerrard’s farewell game last Saturday—and they are not helping Liverpool.

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Liverpool are extending the capacity of the Main Stand at Anfield, which will add an extra 8,500 seats to the famous stadium. 

But Neville thinks it’s an expansion that may have come too late for the Reds, and there’s plenty more that needs to be done for them to keep players like Sterling sated on Merseyside. He also thinks swift, decisive action is required in order to prevent further deterioration:

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Great football clubs like Liverpool will never go away, but they need to find a way to arrest the slide and make themselves a team that players want to play for rather than one they try to leave in search of bigger things elsewhere.

If Sterling leaves, then that will be another star player who has decided that Liverpool is a club that is unable to match their ambitions.

I might be the last person that Liverpool fans want to hear this from, an outsider who played for their biggest rivals, but these are things that need saying.

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It’s all well and good saying that the club needs to change, but the question most of a red persuasion will be asking is, in the current climate, how are they going to change?

Some quality summer additions would be a start, and Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe ran the rule over some ambitious targets for the club:

The points made by Neville may not be completely in keeping with the romanticism that sets Liverpool apart as a football club, but they’re clinical and tough to disagree with. The Kop has always had its heroes, and the lauded players have loved the supporters back, but Steven Gerrard aside, very few of these superstars have stuck around for long.

Given how Sterling has conducted himself throughout this transfer saga, there will be plenty on Merseyside happy to see the back of the England international. But there’s an underpinning concern that this illustrious club is gradually losing its gravitas among the football firmament, and as Neville notes, some proactive action is required to halt the decline.