I can't remember the last time a Premier League footballer as young as Raheem Sterling caused such an aggressive reaction from the Liverpool fanbase, the media and the general public.

The 20 year-old's contract situation has become the Premier League's biggest talking point over the last few weeks, following news of the Reds forward rejecting a contract worth over £100k per-week that would have extended his Anfield stay past 2017.

From gaffers to groundsmen, billionaire owners to ball-boys, pundits to players and Joey Barton to Joe Bloggs, the beauty of football is that everybody has an opinion. My concern, however, is that 90% of the opinions regarding Sterling have only followed the simplistic, superficial narrative of him being a money-grabber, bending Liverpool's arm for a few extra million.

But are we actually judging Raheem Sterling, or just the stereotype of the greedy, disloyal, financially-motivated, young modern day footballer? Too many have been too quick to make up their minds.

It's all been a bit of a PR disaster for Team Sterling so the common feeling of angst towards him is no great surprise. His exclusive interview with the BBC was only ever going to exacerbate current tensions; mentioning figures he's turned down and describing Arsenal's rumoured interest as 'flattering' was naive, stupid and inflammatory. The resulting assumption is that whoever put him up to it - naturally, his agent - is probably the same person telling him not to sign a new deal with Liverpool. Once again, his agent.

But are Sterling's counter-arguments really so bizarre that they're impossible to take at face value? He told the BBC the limited opportunity for silverware - not financial gain - is at the source of his reluctance to pen extended terms which, in my opinion, is a perfectly reasonable concern for a footballer of such obvious talent.

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After all, Liverpool have won just two trophies in the last decade, the 2006 FA Cup and the 2012 League Cup, and are still waiting for their first under Brendan Rodgers. In the last five years they've qualified for the Champions League only once and on some occasions not even picked up the wooden spoon prize of Europa League football.

The Reds' surprise coup for the Premier League title last year almost proved successful but that was under rather special circumstances and the situation now is completely different. There's no longer a fully fit Daniel Sturridge, a world-class talisman like Luis Suarez or a Steven Gerrard enjoying an affluent spell in the twilight of his career - or for that matter, the added passion and emotion of Liverpool's 2013/14 campaign coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

The chances of another runner-up season any time soon, whilst Chelsea are healthy and stable, Arsenal are clawing their way back into the reckoning, Manchester City are far from over and Manchester United are on the mend, seem remarkably slim.

One could accuse Sterling of disloyalty. He wouldn't be where he is today without Liverpool. But he wouldn't be where he is today without QPR either and nobody seems too concerned about him honouring a club he spent seven years at, compared to just five on Merseyside, and initially learnt his trade. Shouldn't they be reaping the rewards for Sterling's development into one of Europe's best youngsters right now? Not a club over 200 miles from where he grew up in Wembley.

Furthermore, Sterling, in my opinion at least, is destined for the top. He's comfortably the best player in Liverpool's squad at just 20 years of age and was 2014's Golden Boy winner. You only need to mull over the names of some of his predecessors for the award - Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero, Cesc Fabregas, Mario Gotze and Paul Pogba, for example - to consider what this says about the England international's future, the level he could play at and his capacity to win titles. Why stay at Liverpool if he's already good enough to contribute at Chelsea, Manchester City or, dare I say it, Manchester United?

And it's not as if he's somehow left Liverpool facing a raw deal. With two years left on his contract, they can still demand an enormous transfer fee for the most talented Englishman of a generation. Money-grabbing would be to sign a £100k per-week deal, before turning around next summer and saying he wants to leave. When you think about it, he's actually saving the Merseysiders a fair few bob by being honest about his ambitions.

Indeed, I fail to see where money actually enters the equation, apart from all the talk in the media. His agent probably is eyeing the commission from either a new contract or a move to another club - but that doesn't mean Sterling has the same motivation. Yet, he still can't escape the notion that it's somehow all about the money - a Premier League player verging on talisman status at one of the biggest clubs in England currently earning less than what some get in the Championship. If it was all about the money, wouldn't Sterling have said something a little sooner, not delayed contract negotiations even further?

Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps Sterling's agent is whispering sweet nothings into his ear whilst the Liverpool star thinks about which colour he wants his Buggati Veyron to be. But let's not judge an innocent man until he's proven guilty. And perhaps more importantly, lets not judge him upon the greedy acts of other footballers.

Let's wait and see whether he accepts a £150k per-week contract - his apparent demand according to the tabloids - or remains adamant that his future lies away from Anfield.

I have a far more simple theory; after watching Steven Gerrard every day in training for the last five years, about to walk off to the MLS without a Premier League title to his name, Sterling doesn't want to be his generation's also-ran. When he jets off for a swansong abroad, aged 34, he wants something more than the just Kop's adoration to recognise how talented a footballer he was.

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