Sterling agent pushes for Liverpool exit, mentions Chelsea as a likely destination

Luis Suarez once forced his way out of Anfield by becoming such a headache off of the pitch that Liverpool were willing to let their best player leave, without having an adequate replacement lined up. Raheem Sterling's agent, Aidy Ward, seems to have taken notes from that situation, and is doing his best to earn his client a move away from the Reds.

Sterling's contractual situation has been the big story around England of late, with little of not happening on the pitch in recent weeks. Jamie Carragher made his displeasure with Ward's work known on Monday evening, and according to Benedict Moore-Bridger of The London Evening Standard, Ward fired back on Wednesday:

"Carragher is a knob. Everybody knows it. Any of the criticism from current pundits or ex-Liverpool players - none of them things matter to me. It is not relevant."

"I don’t care about the PR of the club and the club situation. I don’t care. He is definitely not signing. He’s not signing for £700, £800, £900 thousand a week. He is not signing."

"My job is to make sure I do the best with them (my clients). If people say I am bad at my job, or they are badly advised it does not matter."

Now would be the time to note that Ward has since denied making those comments, though it's worth noting that The Evening Standard has never been known for making up comments like the ones printed in Thursday's paper in order to sell more copies. My gut tells me that Ward actually made the comments in question, but realized after the fact that they may do his client more harm than good.

Regardless, The Evening Standard also had this nugget in the article, which Chelsea fans should be excited about:

Ward said Sterling would not move to Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, and suggested Chelsea or Manchester City were the most likely destinations.

Real or not, I can't imagine this story will make Sterling any more popular with the Anfield faithful, who already booed the player when he was honored by the club earlier this week. That alone should make his Liverpool exit a little more likely, should one of Chelsea or Manchester City make an acceptable bid.