Liverpool hijack Sterling move to Manchester United, who are dragged into Jermaine Jenas mess

Raheem Sterling is heading to Liverpool instead of Manchester United, who might be surprised to find themselves embroiled in the Jermaine Jenas stuff.

Sterling loss

Those at the Daily Mirror website are in their absolute element when it comes to the Raheem Sterling situation. It is a story absolutely ripe for old quotes to be dredged up and used completely out of context, disguised as the latest developments.

That is how we got the news of his seemingly impending move to Manchester United on Thursday, and how he is now actually heading back to Liverpool on Friday.

‘Sterling’s ‘stance’ on Liverpool return as Chelsea star is offered to rival’ is wonderfully egregious for a number of reasons:

1) Sterling’s ‘stance’ on Liverpool return is probably the third-most important ‘stance’ of all here, behind that of Liverpool themselves and Chelsea.

2) If Sterling’s ‘stance’ is being revealed, why is the word ‘stance’ in quote marks despite not being used a single time beyond the headline?

3) That ‘as’ is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting, considering the ‘rival’ Sterling has been offered to is actually Aston Villa and very much not the entirely uninterested Liverpool.

4) How precisely are Sterling’s quotes as a Manchester City player from 2020 ‘raising eyebrows’ as the Mirror’s intro insists while he’s contracted to Chelsea in 2024?

Leaving all that to one side, it is unclear how Sterling saying four years ago: “Would I ever go back to Liverpool? To be honest with you, I love Liverpool. Don’t get it twisted, they are always in my heart, do you know what I mean? It’s a team that (has) done a lot for me growing up,” in any way reveals his thoughts on joining them now. Whose eyebrows are being raised by those banal quotes?

But obviously Mediawatch is stupid, because ‘with Sterling reportedly once keen on a return to Anfield, along with the Arne Slot looking for the right deal in the market, there could be a scenario where Sterling dons the red shirt once again’. After all, their attempt to sign Anthony Gordon for £75m told us they will definitely pursue Sterling out of a desire to ‘add a silky wideman to their ranks this summer’.

Those two are basically the same player and the Arne Slot knows it. Welcome back, silky wideman.