Selling Raheem Sterling for £49m and getting James Milner for free is great transfer business for Liverpool

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Raheem Sterling is on the verge of joining Manchester City
Etihad side have had a £49m bid accepted for the 20-year-old
Liverpool brought in James Milner on a free from City earlier this summer
Liverpool have had an excellent deal with Manchester City in this window
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Published: 07:17 EST, 13 July 2015 | Updated: 09:06 EST, 13 July 2015

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Raheem Sterling is about to become the most expensive English player and 20-year-old in football history as he prepares the Liverpool exit he so desperately craves.

The club have managed to convince Manchester City to part with £49m for his services while James Milner went the other way on a free earlier in the summer.

Well done Liverpool.

The Anfield club have offloaded a player who never wanted to be there and brought in a proven, experienced home-grown central midfielder who will help fill a void left by Steven Gerrard.

Make no mistake, Liverpool still need to replace Sterling. Milner is in no shape of form the guy meant to do that, but the Reds can be very satisfied with their dealings with Manchester City this summer.

Liverpool have sold Raheem Sterling (left) to Manchester City and picked up James Milner (right) for a free

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insisted there was no personal issue with him and Sterling

City will think they have had a good deal given that Sterling is so young, and if they get 10 years of service out of him that will be a cost of £4.9m a season plus wages.

Sterling could go on to become a key part of Manchester City's squad given the opportunity, but there's no guarantee that he will walk into the first team every week on current ability.

What City have paid for is not a world-class player, but someone who has the potential to be a world-class player.

While Sterling clearly has the potential to be considered one of the best in the Premier League he is a long way off at the moment.

Brendan Rodgers: No personal issues with Raheem Sterling

Sterling is on the verge of joining Manchester City in a record-breaking £49million deal

A £49m fee represents a massive risk for Manchester City. Never before has a player performed so poorly the season before making a big-money move of this scale.

Sterling was below-par last season to say the least. He never showed up in any big game, with the exception perhaps of the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea at Anfield.

All Liverpool have seen so far from Sterling is glimpses of how good he can become, and most of those were towards the back end of the 2013-14 campaign when Brendan Rodgers' side came so close to winning the Premier League.

James Milner first interview as a Liverpool player

Milner signs autographs for supporters after landing in Thailand for Liverpool's pre-season tour

Milner (left) was one of few Manchester City players who performed well last season

At times last season Sterling never looked interested or committed. There is no point in keeping a player in that frame of mind. What fans want is someone who will try his heart out week in, week out.

Well done to the hierarchy at Liverpool, though, for digging their heels in. They insisted that he would go on the pre-season tour of Asia and Australia and maintained that he would not be sold for less than £50m.

For Milner, though, he performed admirably in a sinking ship in the second half of last season. He was one of few Manchester City players that performed in their failed Premier League title defence, playing in 45 games in all competitions.

Liverpool should be applauded for getting Milner on a free, but add in the £49m received from Sterling and they have had an excellent deal.

But let's just hope that they invest the money well, unlike last summer with the £75m they collected from Barcelona for Luis Suarez.