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Raheem Sterling has delivered the latest slap in the face to Liverpool in his increasingly acrimonious battle to secure a move to Manchester City.

Any glimmer of hope that a succession of summer signings at Anfield may have convinced the young winger about the Reds’ ambition for the season ahead has been snuffed out.

Not only has Sterling reiterated to Brendan Rodgers his desperation to quit Liverpool this summer - but he has told him he doesn’t want to travel on the pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia. Link:

However, as Sterling has discovered to his cost throughout this sorry saga, players don’t always get their own way.

Liverpool’s stance remains unchanged and in the absence of an acceptable offer from City, Sterling will be expected to show up for the flight to Bangkok on Sunday.

If he doesn’t attend then he will be in breach of his contract and subjected to disciplinary action. It remains to be seen whether Sterling, who reported for pre-season at Melwood on Monday, is prepared to effectively down tools and go on strike.

After the way in which Sterling and his agent Aidy Ward have conducted themselves over the past six months, nothing can be ruled out.

The 20-year-old England international will hope that his bullish stance will convince City to finally meet Liverpool’s £50million valuation and get the deal done.

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The Reds have been braced for an increased bid since City’s improved offer of £35million rising to £40million was rejected three weeks ago but so far it has not been forthcoming.

Manuel Pellegrini’s squad fly to Australia on Thursday to embark on an 11-day training camp on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Liverpool insist they still don’t want to sell and are prepared to hold Sterling to the final two years of his existing contract, but his departure now looks inevitable.

It has become an unwelcome distraction and with vital pre-season preparations now underway Rodgers could do without the sideshow. He needs players who are committed to the cause.

Where Luis Suarez was worth fighting to keep, whatever the offer from Arsenal two years ago, the same can’t be said for Sterling. His form nosedived in the closing months of last season after he made it clear he wanted a transfer.

The whole saga has been a PR disaster for Sterling since he rejected Liverpool’s offer of a new five-year deal worth £100,000 per week midway through last season and said he didn’t want any further talks until the summer.

One minute his camp were demanding £140,000 per week, the next they were saying it wasn’t about money but a desire to challenge for silverware, His head had been turned.

In April Sterling conducted an ill-advised interview with the BBC without the club’s permission. It was an attempt to halt the torrent of criticism which had come his way during a damaging stand-off over his contract but it backfired spectacularly.

“I don’t want to be perceived as a 20-year-old money-grabber but as the kid that loves to play football,” he said.

His admission that it was “flattering” to be linked with Arsenal certainly wasn’t what Kopites wanted to hear. There were also complaints from Sterling about Rodgers playing him out of position.

In May he upped the ante by telling Rodgers face to face that in the absence of Champions League qualification he wanted out. Laughably, Liverpool stood accused by his agent of “not doing enough to protect the player from negative headlines”.

Rodgers, who has carefully nurtured Sterling’s talent over the past three years and even granted him a mid-season break in Jamaica last December, responded by publicly declaring that he was “going nowhere this summer”.

Ward’s response was to launch an extraordinary attack on Liverpool in which he said he didn’t care about the club’s image and that Sterling wouldn’t even a sign a new deal if he was offered £900,000 per week. The result of Ward’s rant was more negativity heading in the youngster’s direction as he was booed at Liverpool’s end of season awards.

With Ward having made it clear he had no interest in holding talks about a new contract, Liverpool shelved a proposed meeting with Rodgers and chief executive Ian Ayre.

Twice, City have tabled bids which were quickly rejected.

Sterling isn’t the only one hoping that City soon come back in with an acceptable offer which brings this unseemly tale to a swift conclusion.