Liverpool youth product Raheem Sterling has shocked the club by demanding £50,000 a week as contract negotiations opened between the two parties this week, according to the Daily Mail.

Sterling has stormed into the Liverpool first team this season and is now one of the first names on Brendan Rodgers’ team sheet alongside a crop of fellow youngsters.

The 17-year-olds current contract works out at around £2,000 a week and the Reds were expected to offer ten times that as negotiations began this week. However, the Daily Mail claim that Sterling’s representatives will reject that offer, claiming that their player is worthy of earning the same as certain other players at Anfield.

Stewart Downing is reportedly taking home £60k-a-week and Jordan Henderson is not a million miles behind, so Sterling, who received an England call up this week, will demand similar money.

“He has been fantastic this season since he has broken in, Rodgers told the Daily Mail.

“It’s a great effort by him. He deserves his call-up.”