City offer striker £21m to reject FC Barcelona move

Manchester City is fighting tooth and nail to keep hold of Raheem Sterling at the Etihad. The England international has been in the news recently with moves to Barcelona and Arsenal rumoured. However, Manchester City will try to convince the forward to stay by offering him increased wages and a new contract.

Raheem Sterling has been one of the star players for Pep Guardiola since the Catalan coach arrived in the EPL but he sometimes finds himself out of the squad for a while. The ex-Liverpool forward is going through one of such periods again as he has been repeatedly left out of the starting XI this season. 

This has made clubs such as FC Barcelona and Arsenal make advances for the England forward to join their teams for a starring role. Barcelona needs a prolific forward and Sterling fits into the mould of the versatile forward they will want. While Arsenal coach, Mikel Arteta is credited with greatly impacting Sterling's game while he was Guardiola's assistant at City. 

However, Manchester City is ready to offer Sterling a salary of £350,000 per week up from the current £300,000 he earns at the Etihad. Despite Sterling not seeing so much game time, it is believed that the forward remains fully in Guardiola's plans for the future.