Liverpool attacker Raheem Sterling to leave it late to make pre-season tour decision as Manchester City make improved £45m offer

• Liverpool fly out to the Far East and Australia for pre-season on Sunday
• But wantaway attacker Raheem Sterling is yet to decide whether to go 
• Sterling is aware that Manchester City made improved offer on Saturday
• Manuel Pellegrini's side lodged an improved bid of £45million for Sterling 

By Joe Bernstein for The Mail on Sunday and Oliver Holt For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 17:03 EST, 11 July 2015 | Updated: 02:31 EST, 12 July 2015

Raheem Sterling will make a last-minute decision on Sunday on whether to fly to the Far East and Australia on Liverpool's pre-season tour.

The England striker knows that Manchester City lodged a £45million bid for him with the Anfield club on Saturday.

If Liverpool accept it and bring the biggest transfer saga of the summer to an early close, Sterling will not get on the flight on Sunday.

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 Raheem Sterling will make a last-minute decision on Sunday on whether to fly to the Far East and Australia

England ace Sterling knows Manchester City lodged a £45million bid for him with the Anfield club on Saturday

Sources close to the player said it was '50-50' whether he would catch the plane with the rest of the Liverpool squad this morning. Sterling is adamant that he wants to leave Liverpool and is desperate for the situation to be resolved before the club departs.

But the 20-year-old, who missed training last week because of sickness, is also thought to accept that if Liverpool reject City's latest bid, he will have to board the plane.

The impasse is symbolic of Liverpool's trip into the unknown. The locations of Bangkok, Brisbane, Adelaide and Kuala Lumpur are familiar enough but the make-up of Brendan Rodgers' new squad is anything but. Six of the 30 players heading east — Adam Bogdan, Nathaniel Clyne, Joe Gomez, James Milner, Danny Ings and Divock Origi — have never played for the club.

Rodgers has also named a number of untried youngsters including Jordan Rossiter and Sheyi Ojo and left three senior professionals Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini and Jose Enrique at home while they try to find buyers. And of course, for the first time this century, there will be no Steven Gerrard involved in their pre-season tour.

Brendan Rodgers will leave Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini and Jose Enrique at home while they try to find buyers

Fiery Italian striker Balotelli will not fly to the Far East and Australia on Liverpool's pre-season tour

After last season's sixth-place finish, which followed on from an exciting tilt at the Premier League title, Rodgers needs to find a way to bounce back.

Last season's signings were generally unsuccessful, with the possible exception of Emre Can, who is excused from tour duty along with £29m Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho because they have been involved in international competition. 

This year, besides adding experience with the appointment of former Liverpool player Gary McAllister as first-team coach, Rodgers has tried to enlist solid professionals with Premier League know how, such as Milner, Clyne and Ings alongside exciting risks, Firmino and Origi. He will hope they turn out to be more Coutinho than Lazar Markovic, who was a disappointment last season.

Former Liverpool player Gary McAllister was announced as first-team coach earlier this month by Rodgers

 Rodgers has tried to enlist solid professionals with Premier League know how such as striker Danny Ings

But Rodgers had to argue his case. Owner John W Henry and the Fenway Sports Group have notoriously had their own fixed idea of what age profile they want to spend money on. When Rodgers wanted Swansea and Wales captain Ashley Williams, in his late 20s at the time, he was given Mamadou Sakho who was five years younger.

The arrival of Milner as a senior citizen to instil good dressing room habits as Gerrard once did, was a victory for Rodgers, even if the 29-year-old was signed on a Bosman. Like Ings, who was also out of contract at Burnley, they will be able to sell him for a profit in 12 months' time if things fail to work out.

Two years ago, Liverpool attracted a crowd of 95,000 in Melbourne. The Luis Suarez saga was in full bloom and Rodgers ultimately won that one, persuading the player to stay for another season. It may be too much to ask for Sterling to be won over quite as easily.

James Milner first interview as a Liverpool player

The arrival of James Milner as a senior citizen to instil good dressing room habits was a victory for Rodgers

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