Today marks the tenth anniversary of the £49m deal which saw Raheem Sterling join Manchester City from Liverpool.
The England international caused a real stir after moving to the Etihad Stadium, drawing criticism from the likes of Jamie Carragher for the manner in which he departed – he rejected a new contract before handing in a transfer request – while Piers Morgan also ridiculed the £49m transfer fee Manchester City paid.
Raheem Sterling did manage to ease the pressure on his shoulders by scoring on his debut against Roma in the International Champions Cup back in July 2015 – a moment which ended up with Mario Balotelli angering Liverpool fans.
Mario Balotelli tweet annoyed Liverpool fans
The Italian was aware of the abuse suffered by Sterling after his £49m move to Manchester in July 2015, and moved to show his support for the man who had just ditched Anfield after the strike against Roma.
He posted: “Well done @sterling31! Best answer (to the criticism). Keep it up.”
However, as Balotelli was playing for Liverpool at the time – whose supporters were still angry to lose such a talent – the man born in Palermo received immense backlash.
As Sky Sports even covered at the time, the response from Liverpool fans was so negative that Balotelli even deleted the tweet before defending himself in a further post.
It read: “Liverpool fans are amazing but I hope @sterling31 will play at his best because he deserves it. He’s a good guy – young and talented.
“Support him like you always did. He gave everything to this club and (respected) it so I’m sad to see this. YNWA (You’ll Never Walk Alone). Liverpool is a family ALWAYS.”
Balotelli, who rates Erling Haaland, eventually left Liverpool himself just over 12 months later after being offloaded to OGC Nice in August 2016 – having scored only four goals in 28 appearances.
Raheem Sterling eventually proved to be a huge success at Manchester City after Mario Balotelli support
The man born in Jamaica showed real mental fortitude to overcome all the negativity that surrounded his move to Manchester City, and served the Citizens incredibly well.
Sterling – who Kevin De Bruyne adored – scored 131 goals and provided 86 assists in 339 appearances for Manchester City, winning four Premier League titles, five League Cups and one FA Cup.
Not only that, but Manchester City also got their money back once the Kingston-born forward had started to decline, with Chelsea surprisingly spending £50m on the attacker in July 2022.
Perhaps the support from Balotelli – which unfairly put the Manchester City icon in hot water at Anfield – went some way to helping Sterling shine at the Etihad Stadium.
