Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has fanned the flames of Raheem Sterling's contract stand-off with Liverpool by insisting he would sell any player who wanted to leave his club.

Sterling's commitment to Liverpool is in doubt after he gave a televised interview on Wednesday explaining why he has chosen to put talks over a new deal on hold.

As Sportsmail revealed on Thursday, Chelsea are interested in the 20-year-old and have been asked to be kept updated on his future. Arsenal are also keen on the England international.

Raheem Sterling, pictured in training on Thursday, has rejected a new £100,000-a-week deal with Liverpool

Jose Mourinho insists that he would sell any of his Chelsea players if they did not want to play for the club

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is adamant that Sterling will not be sold in the summer transfer window

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers will play Sterling at Arsenal in Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash despite the player admitting that he is 'flattered' by interest from the north London club.

Rodgers insists Sterling is not for sale this summer at any price, despite his reluctance to sign an extension.

But Mourinho said: 'I don't like players that don't want to play for me and my club. My opinion is every player has a price.

'It doesn't matter which player. If you ask me, for example, do I want Eden Hazard to leave Chelsea? No. If he wants to leave and doesn't want to work with me, doesn't want to play for Chelsea, does he have a price? I think he has. But I also understand the philosophy of managers and clubs who want to keep the players at any price. My philosophy is not better than that, it's just mine.'

Mourinho and Chelsea are interested in Sterling and could make a move for him at the end of the season

Sterling will start against Arsenal despite admitting it was 'quite flattering' to be linked with the Gunners

Mourinho watches Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Filipe Luis and Nemanja Matic (L-R) in training at Cobham on Friday

Rodgers has resisted the temptation to leave out Sterling on Saturday after a turbulent three days following his revelation of the reasons for stalling over a new £100,000-a-week contract.

Sterling's remarks about being flattered by Arsenal's interest have only added to suspicions that his representatives are trying to engineer a move to London. But Rodgers believes that Sterling will react 'very strongly' to the situation and has the right temperament to handle a game that Liverpool need to win to close a six-point gap on Arsenal in the race for a top-four finish.

'He will play,' said the Liverpool boss. 'If it was a different player I would maybe have something to think about. But with this kid, since he has come in, trained and worked with me, he has been phenomenal and I expect him to go there and perform at a high level.

'I think he is a strong character. He's a young boy, still learning, on and off the field, but I don't think there was anything derogatory to Liverpool. I know he loves the club and I expect him to perform at a high level.'

Rodgers says he expects Sterling to 'perform at a high level' against Arsenal despite his contract wrangle

Sterling has attracted interest from clubs including Arsenal, Manchester City and Bayern Munich

Kolo Toure, pictured being challenged by Steven Gerrard, believes Sterling should remain at Anfield

Kolo Toure, meanwhile, has warned that leaving Anfield could see Sterling end up on the scrapheap at another club, in a similar way that occurred with Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair at Manchester City. The English pair, who used to play with Toure at City, played just nine Premier League games between them after moving to the Etihad.

Toure told the Liverpool Echo: 'Both Rodwell and Sinclair went to a club where there is big competition and didn't play.