Raheem Sterling departure deals another blow to mystique of Liverpool

Raheem Sterling completed his $76 million transfer from Liverpool to Manchester City on Tuesday, confirming the Reds' status as a selling club. While the exorbitant sum makes Sterling’s transfer fee sets a new record for English players, Liverpool’s financial gains still cannot mask that one of England’s greatest clubs can seemingly no longer hold onto its premier talent.

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Selling Luis Suarez, who was undoubtedly Liverpool’s best player at the time, set up a scenario where the Merseyside club could not contend for a Premier League title or even finish in the top four. By the end of the 2014-15 campaign, Liverpool finished in sixth place and eight points out of the final Champions League position.

Going back a bit further, Liverpool could not keep Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres. Both players moved on from Anfield and landed at bigger clubs that promised more opportunities for silverware. Alonso left for Real Madrid, while Torres joined Premier League rival Chelsea. Ultimately, Suarez, Alonso and Torres all collected Champions League trophies to confirm that they had indeed made the right decisions to leave. Liverpool has rarely even featured in the Champions League over that stretch of time.

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Of the recent sales, the deal involving Torres seems most relevant when analyzing Sterling’s record move to Manchester City. Liverpool sold one of its top players to a team considered to be a direct Premier League title rival for a massive sum of money. Obviously, the Torres transfer did not exactly work out as planned for Chelsea, but the Blues’ ability to poach a star striker from Liverpool struck a blow to the Reds' self-esteem nonetheless. Moving from Anfield to Stamford Bridge suddenly seemed like a clear step up, which meant that Chelsea belonged on a higher rung than a club that bathes in English football history.

With Sterling’s move, Manchester City also confirms its status as an elite club that sits on a higher step than Liverpool. Luring away, arguably, Liverpool’s top player serves as much a blow to the mystique of Liverpool Football Club as it secures Manchester City’s spot among the elite in England and beyond. City may not yet be on the same level as Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea, but Liverpool is acres behind the Citizens in the pursuit of European supremacy.

One can point to Juan Mata’s move to Manchester United or Petr Cech’s move to Arsenal to argue that the Premier League’s top clubs are regularly exchanging talent these days. However, Mata moved for a hefty price only after Jose Mourinho effectively froze out the Spaniard and made it clear Eden Hazard would be Chelsea’s main man moving forward. Chelsea selling Mata to Manchester United may as well have come with a note from the Portuguese manager thanking United for overpaying a player Chelsea did not consider good enough.

In contrast, Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool relied too heavily on Sterling last season. The manager even resorted to sending Sterling on a mid-season vacation designed to give the player added rest from overuse early in the season. Liverpool gave Sterling superstar treatment with the hope that he would stay. He did not. Needless to say, Manchester City is not taking Liverpool’s scraps.

Cech’s move to Arsenal is entirely of no relevance to Sterling as it came only after Chelsea established that he would no longer be first-choice goalkeeper at Stamford Bridge. Still, the departure seemed to be a gift to the longtime shot stopper for years of service. Sterling’s move is not sentimental in any manner. It is a forced transaction considering the player had publicized his desire to leave despite the club’s overt attempts to keep him.

A better comparison may be Chelsea’s repeated attempts to land Wayne Rooney from Manchester United. Mourinho offered massive bids to land the disgruntled star, but United refused and managed to keep Rooney. Where Manchester United succeeded, Liverpool failed.

Sterling is leaving Liverpool for a bigger club, which is a hard fact to face for the Reds. If Liverpool does not immediately reinvest the proceeds from Sterling’s sale into star players that can immediately mount a title challenge in England and procure a return to the Champions League, Liverpool could continue further down the path of becoming a stepping-stone club that helps develop talent before that talent is plucked away by the European and English super clubs.

Even if the financial numbers look good on paper, Sterling’s departure signals a massive step backward for a club that once featured as the premier club in England. Now, finishing in the top four would require a minor miracle.

Shahan Ahmed is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports helping covering the beautiful game globally. Follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA and @perfectpass