Brendan Rodgers stepped into his press conference at Melwood today knowing there was only going to be one thing really on the agenda.
The small, nippy and out of position elephant in the room was Raheem Sterling and the interview he gave to the BBC yesterday in which he attempted to clear up his feelings regarding an ongoing contract wrangle. Instead he made things significantly worse for himself and his employers.
Sterling's stated aim was to get things out on the table. He wouldn't be signing the contract on the table (reported to be £100,000 a week) and all talks would be put on hold until the summer.
It has been confirmed today that Liverpool knew nothing of the interview which has been plastered over the back of every paper in England. That left Brendan Rodgers' media briefing ahead of Saturday's crunch tie with Arsenal, one of Sterling reported admirers, a little less about the action on the pitch than it might have been.
When asked about reported Sterling's demands, which are somewhere in the region of £150,000 to £180,000 a week depending on who you believe, Rodgers was as bullish as you would expect.
Concentration should be on his football. If his ambition is to win trophies that's aligned with what we do here. Raheem has two and a half years left on his deal and he's not going anywhere in the summer.
The Liverpool manager then confirmed that there was no permission from the club to do the interview before adding a nice little patronising dig.
There was no permission (for the interview) from us. He will learn we all make mistakes in life, especially when you are young.
Rodgers finished by saying that Liverpool, much like with Luis Suarez a couple of years ago, won't be forced into selling Sterling this summer unless they want to.
I think the kid has tried to put off all talk about contract and money. For now hopefully the focus will be on football. Liverpool are one of the superpowers of football and if the owners don't want to sell, they don't have to.
Everyone looking forward to a transfer saga this summer?
