text: Jaap Stam had just ordered a new kitchen for his Cheshire home when he was informed by Sir Alex Ferguson that he was being sold to Lazio. The then Manchester United manager didn’t mention in the same conversation that his son, Jason, stood to make a seven-figure sum in his role as an agent in the deal. No, Stam’s representatives would discover that later. Raheem Sterling shakes hands with Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers during training on Thursday . The two were at Melwood alongside the rest of the Liverpool squad in preparation for clash with Arsenal . Rodgers remains confident that Sterling will stay and the situation will be resolved in the summer . Sterling is quite within his rights to get the best possible deal he can for himself, according to Roy Keane . But even so, it prompted Roy Keane to explain to me – for a column I was ghosting at the time - why a footballer should ‘always look after No 1’. United’s captain scoffed at the idea that loyalty really existed in football. ‘Jaap has discovered that, to football clubs, players are just expensive pieces of meat,’ said Keane, without a hint of concern as to how his views might impact on his own relationship with his employers. Keane would probably feel Raheem Sterling is quite within his rights to get the best possible deal he can for himself. Sterling might be 20 and he might want what seems a ludicrous amount of money for a player, while hugely promising, remains relatively unproven. But he already has a young family to support and he has ambitions not just to win trophies but to make as much money as he possibly can. In truth, the only issue right now is how he is choosing to go about getting what he wants. He has an agent, in Aidy Ward, who is developing something of a reputation for an aggressive strategy for his clients – we saw as much when he turned up at Old Trafford last month with Saido Berahino – and the approach he is employing here is not exactly endearing Sterling to anyone. Sterling's agent Aidy Ward next to Saido Berahino (centre) at Old Trafford for Man United against Arsenal . Jaap Stam was a fixture of Manchester United's central defence from 1998-2001 before being sold to Lazio . Former Manchester United midfielder Keane insists that a footballer should 'always look after No 1' My guess is Liverpool wouldn’t have been as upset by his appearance on the BBC as some might think. Sterling and Ward should probably realise that, right now, £100,000 a week is a generous offer. Just as they should realise that switching to a club like Manchester City might not be the smartest move at this stage of his development. Better to remain at Anfield where he will play regularly under Brendan Rodgers; a manager who hasn’t exactly done a bad job of developing Sterling so far. On Friday, Rodgers said he remained confident that Sterling would stay; that the situation would resolve itself in the summer. But I wonder if it will when Ward and Sterling are employing such aggressive tactics and Liverpool have made clear their own approach to future contract negotiations with their players. For the top players Liverpool pay handsomely. Daniel Sturridge is believed to be earning around £150,000 a week and Steven Gerrard always felt well-enough rewarded for a player Ferguson once regarded as the ‘most influential’ in the Barclays Premier League. Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge (right) is believed to be earning around £150,000 a week . Steven Gerrard trains at Melwood as he keeps fit during his period of suspension for Liverpool . But Liverpool do not have the financial muscle of a City or a Chelsea and that could yet result in them losing Sterling. Only recently Ian Ayre, the Liverpool chief executive, explained the club’s strategy and a move towards more performance-related contracts. ‘In any business you can make lots of money but if you let it go out of the door in other ways, then you are in trouble,’ he said. ‘The obvious biggest outgoing is players’ wages and transfer fees. That’s taken a pretty dramatic change in terms of how we look at it, analyse it and pay for it - and how we structure contracts. ‘We pay good pay for our players; we pay fair pay. But we also like to give them the appetite to earn more which we know footballers like to do. As we all do. ‘That’s a far cry from deals where it is sort of nailed on and then it doesn’t matter whether they perform or do not perform. ‘So we are just trying to find a balance. I think other teams are doing that as well - or at least trying to do that. ‘And it’s certainly working for us - we have a happy bunch of players.’ Sterling scored his first goal for England during their 4-0 win over Lithuania last Friday . The 20-year-old Liverpool forward uploaded this picture to Instagram from inside his home . Clearly, not everyone is happy. But that is not necessarily Liverpool’s fault. They have a business to run and they have a duty to run it well. At the same time, Sterling will rightly feel he has a duty to his family to make as much money as he can during his relatively short career as a professional footballer. But he is not thinking it through carefully enough and nor, you suspect, is his agent. A footballer’s image can have a huge financial value in modern football and right now Sterling’s is taking a battering. And if he does move to another club and he fails to progress at the rate he currently is at Liverpool, he could find that has an impact on future earnings. Not that anyone he seems to be listening to will be telling him that.
target: Raheem Sterling is quite within his rights to get the best possible deal .
  The only issue right now is how he's choosing to go about doing it .
  Liverpool forward should realise that £100k-a-week is a generous offer .
  Switching to another club now would not be good idea for his development .