Sterling Out, Pounds Sterling In

Bye-bye Raheem...

Thankfully, the long-running Raheem Sterling saga is over. On the whole, I'm happy with the outcome.
In fact, it seems to have been a win-win all around: Sterling gets to increase his salary from a miserly £30K/week to £200K/week (I don't know how he made ends meet!), his agent gets well rewarded for what must be the most unprofessional player representation in the history of the club, QPR even get to make a few quid on the deal, and Liverpool gets a hefty chunk of change to splash on some more professional players.
I rate Sterling. He's got pace, intelligence (football-wise, at least), skill, and he's a lot more physical than his slight frame would suggest. Is he worth £49M? Not right now, he isn't, but who knows where he's going to end up in the years to come?
The primary reason that I'm happy with the deal—aside from the stability his move will bring to the dressing room—is that he's not the finished article, and he may never be. On the basis of last season's form, I think we've got a much better end of the deal than City have. The pressure of being a big money signing is probably going to tell on him, particularly if he doesn't settle into a first-team berth immediately, and who knows what a big contract will do to his motivation. Maybe he'll think he's already made it and stop fighting so hard.
In any case, if a player doesn't realize how lucky he is to pull on the red of Liverpool, we probably don't want him anyway; instead, we want players who'll run through a brick wall for the badge on their shirt.
Also, say it quietly, but I think City bought the wrong player: Jordon Ibe looks a much more exciting prospect to me than Sterling, and João Teixeira looks to have bags of promise too.