Raheem Sterling slapped with £60m price tag as Liverpool raise his price following latest demands by their star man

Liverpool have put a £60million price on Raheem Sterling’s head after the England star insisted he wants to leave Anfield this summer.

Sterling made the demand in a phone call to Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre on Thursday after the club called off summit talks with the player and his agent over his future.

Ayre is understood to have told Sterling that he must see out the remaining two years of his £35,000-a-week contract on Merseyside, and Liverpool maintain publicly that the 20-year-old is not for sale at any price.

Privately, however, they are understood to be drawing up a contingency plan if it becomes clear that the player will have to go amid strong interest from Manchester City and the possibility of rival bids from Chelsea and Arsenal.

Liverpool are ready to put a premium price of £60m on Sterling — significantly more than the £45m previously mentioned — to test City’s resolve to sign the hottest young property in English football.

They are determined not to be dictated to by their Premier League rivals or by Sterling’s agent Aidy Ward, whose outspoken comments prompted the club to cancel Friday’s meeting.

Ward claimed that Sterling would not sign a new contract at Anfield ‘for £900,000 a week’.

Liverpool believe the agent’s outburst has given them more credibility and control over the situation, but still acknowledge that it will be difficult to keep an unhappy player.

Anfield manager Brendan Rodgers must decide whether to play Sterling in Sunday’s final game of the season at Stoke, having urged supporters not to turn on the youngster.

Meanwhile, City boss Manuel Pellegrini is set for talks with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and has said that the club will be assessing their summer transfer targets.

With James Milner set to follow Frank Lampard out of the Etihad by agreeing to join Liverpool as a free agent, the deposed Premier League champions are aware of the need to increase their quota of homegrown players.

Sterling has been identified as an ideal choice, but it is clear that Liverpool will not let him go without a fight.