JOSE MOURINHO SAYS that he would sell Raheem Sterling if he was in Brendan Rodgers’ shoes.
Liverpool continue to insist the 20-year-old is not for sale at any price after Sterling rejected the club’s offer of a new £100,000-a-week deal.
And Mourinho has offered his own opinion on the matter, stating that he would sell the player if he was faced with the same situation.
“I don’t like players that don’t want to play for me and my club. My opinion is every player has a price,” he told reporters.
“It doesn’t matter which player. If you ask me, for example, do I want Eden Hazard to leave Chelsea? No. If he wants to leave and doesn’t want to work with me, doesn’t want to play for Chelsea, does he have a price? I think he has.
“But I also understand the philosophy of managers and clubs who want to keep the players at any price. My philosophy is not better than that, it’s just mine.”
Rodgers has confirmed that Sterling will be in the team to face Arsenal on Saturday despite the events of this week, which saw the player conduct an unauthorised interview explaining his reasons for not signing the new deal.
“He will play,” the Liverpool boss said. ‘If it was a different player I would maybe have something to think about. But with this kid, since he has come in, trained and worked with me, he has been phenomenal and I expect him to go there and perform at a high level.
“I think he is a strong character. He’s a young boy, still learning, on and off the field, but I don’t think there was anything derogatory to Liverpool. I know he loves the club and I expect him to perform at a high level.”
