If losing Luis Suarez was a misfortune, the exit of Raheem Sterling looks like carelessness from Liverpool's point of view. And when you take into account Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano, the conclusion is hard to ignore. How can Liverpool convince anyone they are not a selling club?

Make no mistake, Liverpool did not want to lose Sterling. Following Steven Gerrard's decision to quit Anfield, the winger was earmarked as the new face of the club. Still only 20, his progress was Rooneyesque - already 127 first-team games under his belt and the best England player at last year's World Cup.

Even on the final weekend of last season, less than two months ago, Brendan Rodgers proclaimed: 'Raheem has two years left and I expect him to see that two years through and continue to behave as immaculately as he has done.'

Raheem Sterling is on the verge of leaving Liverpool and joining Manchester City in a £49million transfer

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, pictured in training on Monday, has had to deal with the loss of key players

Steven Gerrard made his debut for LA Galaxy on Saturday after leaving Liverpool at the end of last season

The alarm bells would have rung out for Liverpool fans at that stage. Two years before, Luis Suarez demanded to go. The club initially held firm – but only for a bit.

Ultimately, the five-year contract Suarez signed the following season turned out to maximise John W Henry's transfer fee from Barcelona rather than genuinely keep him at the club for the long term, and the owners saw the profits that can be made from buying and selling - hence the £16million punt on Mario Balotelli last summer that didn't come off.

It's a sign of how quickly things have declined that when Rafa Benitez was in charge, the big four of English football was Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. And Liverpool, five-time winners of the European Cup as their fans proudly sing, weren't even the weakest of the quartet.

Then, between 2008 and 2010, a perfect storm erupted that exposed Liverpool once Manchester City were bought by the Abu Dhabi Government and spent at a level that would ensure they would replace someone in the top four.

Initially, Arsenal looked vulnerable, but they had a new stadium already built and stability in the dugout with Arsene Wenger.

Liverpool didn't. The lack of their new stadium, a mistake that goes back to the 1980s when they dominated Europe, began to look more and more serious as the club were restricted to gates of 45,000 and no billionaire with deep pockets.

Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez won the Treble with Barcelona last season after leaving Liverpool

Liverpool were forced to sell fans' favourite Xabi Alonso (right) to Real Madrid for £30m in 2009

Fernando Torres, pictured after scoring against Atletico Madrid last year, left Liverpool for Chelsea in 2011

Ownership changed hands from David Moores to the detested Tom Hicks and George Gillett to Henry and the Fenway Sports Group.

Players started to leave. Alonso to Real Madrid, Mascherano to Barcelona, Torres to Chelsea. It brought the club plenty of money but, Suarez apart, the replacements weren't as good.

In the managerial hotseat, Benitez left, Roy Hodgson came and went. To highlight the confusion in strategy, FSG reluctantly turned to hero of a past generation, Kenny Dalglish, to lead their brave new vision. When Kenny did things his old-fashioned way, and stabilised the club with two cup finals, they sacked him and brought in Rodgers, 22 years younger.

It was a Rodgers tactic to build his players up to an amazing degree with Suarez, Sterling and Gerrard always at the top of his compliment list.

Suarez was a 'very highly intelligent man off the field'. Sterling 'the best young player in European football' and Gerrard 'one of the very few genuine world-class players around.'

Rodgers often builds up his best players but his words have failed to stop his stars leaving Anfield

Suarez scores for Barcelona in their 3-1 Champions League final win against Juventus in May

Sterling, pictured in training last week, is set to become the latest big name to force a move away from Anfield

He did it to maximise their performances off the pitch but also to persuade them to stick with his Liverpool project, a courageous gambit that has ultimately fallen on deaf ears.

Suarez joined Barcelona for £75m in the summer of 2014, his in-laws lived there and he won the Treble in his first season, including the Champions League. And nobody has been bitten except Liverpool, who only finished sixth without him.

Meanwhile, Sterling and his advisers fought a very aggressive campaign last season to get him to Manchester City. It wasn't edifying but from their point of view it worked, just like Wayne Rooney found his way to Manchester United in 2004.

Gerrard was a different situation but in some ways the result was the same. He clearly loved the club, but not enough to do a Ryan Giggs at United and stay as a squad player rather than remain top dog. Would it have been different if Liverpool were genuine challengers for that elusive Premier League trophy? Maybe.

Gerrard opted for a move to Major League Soccer instead of finishing his career at boyhood club Liverpool

Brazil stars Philippe Coutinho (left) and Roberto Firmino will be relied upon by Rodgers next season

In the end, the allure of playing for a provincial club in the north west of England who are no longer regular Champions League participants and whose three trophies in 12 years have all come from penalty shootouts, is not enough for the A-list of footballers. For a club that thrived on the maxim 'second is nowhere', it must be deeply dispiriting and hard to deal with.

The supporters, generally regarded as among the most passionate and knowledgeable in the game, must know that fourth place next season will be a fantastic result for their club, but is unlikely unless one of the new Big Four – City, United, Arsenal and Chelsea – slip up unexpectedly.

The Liverpool squad is still deep in talent. They have a core of English players like Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana, and promising younger players such as Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho.