Harry Redknapp has insisted Liverpool should not try and force Raheem Sterling to stay at the club if the winger wants to leave Anfield this summer.
Sterling has been linked with a number of rival Premier League sides - including Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal - after news broke earlier this year that the 20-year-old had rejected a new £100,000-a-week contract with the Reds.
The winger's agent, Aidy Ward, later revealed to the Evening Standard that not even a weekly salary of nearly £1million would convince his client to stay at Anfield, which resulted in Liverpool cancelling negotiations with the player over a new deal.
Departing Reds captain Steven Gerrard admitted on Tuesday that Sterling needed to make a decision about his future quickly, which has now been reiterated by former Queens Park Rangers manager Redknapp.
Speaking to Kicca.com, he said: "What are you going to get out of Raheem Sterling if you force him to stay against his wishes?
"There's somebody who's spoken to his agent, there's no danger, there's a deal lined up somewhere, we mustn't kid ourselves.
"There isn't a transfer that gets done where someone hasn't spoken to somebody, it's all done that way.
"So whatever club it is in this country, they'd have made an offer, they'd have had a meeting with the agent and someone and there'll be a deal on the table, 'This is what we'll give him, this is the deal, 150 grand-a-week.'
"He wants it, suddenly you say 'No you're not going,' how's he going to play? I know he's not going to not try, he wouldn't do that, he's got to go out and try, but if his head's not right you've got a problem.
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"So you've got to try and get him in on his own, talk to him and say 'Look, we want you to stay' and if he says 'Well, I don't want to stay' then I think you've got to sell him."
