Great expectations around Gareth Bale serve as warning to stalling Raheem Sterling

Not a bad return, that, even on a world-record €100 million investment, especially when you consider how long Real had been waiting for someone to score that latter goal: a dozen years, ever since the club last won the trophy they define themselves by, and started obsessing about La Decima.

Thing is, when you're the player who breaks the world transfer record, you're suddenly catapulted into the elite, and consequently measured by a different, borderline absurd, metric. Other players who had broken the record include: Juan Schiaffino, Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Ruud Gullit, Roberto Baggio, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo. Four World Cup winners in there. Another two finalists. Two European champions. All of them, bar none, won multiple leagues and European prizes with their clubs. Schiaffino's exploits in the 1950 World Cup were so spectacular, they caused the entire nation of Brazil to suffer a collective nervous breakdown that grumbled away for 64 years and was directly responsible for *that* 7-1 last summer. These people are high achievers.

Bale, wonderful and successful as he is, isn't quite in that category. At least not yet. And as a result, with Real Madrid hitting a rocky patch, he's currently being pilloried by the Spanish press, lampooned as a lazy waste of space. Which is pretty damn unfair - hey, he didn't set his transfer price, and we refer you to those two cup-winning goals again - but that's the way things work. And as things stand, the papers in Spain are preparing to file Bale as a big-money flop, to be filed alongside Gianluigi Lentini, Denilson and Real-era Kaka. Wow, tough crowd.

That's modern football for you. Where there's big money, expectations are not just commensurate, they're amplified a hundred fold. The grass is not always greener. In fact, it often seems to thin out alarmingly at altitude, when one gets close to the peak of the mountain. And this is something all young players should keep in mind as they peer up ambitiously at the heights. Which brings us round to Raheem Sterling, whose wage negotiations with Liverpool have reportedly stalled.

Sterling is England's most talented young player, bar none. There's a case to be made that, with Wayne Rooney having seen better days, he's now England's most talented player full stop. But let's strike a compromise: he's certainly the most promising, with a sense that there's still a few gears to shift up. There's a very real chance that Liverpool and England have a world-class talent on their hands. He's already proved himself, on a good day, worthy at the top level - selling the entire Manchester City defence that outrageous dummy to score at Anfield last season, carving Italy apart at the World Cup with a prompt from deep to send Wayne Rooney away down the wing where he'd set up Daniel Sturridge to score.

But there's the rub. Sterling has been allowed to breathe and develop at Liverpool. He's not exactly operating under the radar, but nevertheless in an environment where he's being given time and space to grow. His youth is taken into account, expectation yet to be ratcheted up to 11. He's afforded the opportunity to learn his trade in a few different positions. If he needs time off to rest, he gets it. If the England manager hangs him out to dry for the very same reason, the club circle the wagons around their fledgling star. If he misses several gilt-edged chances to score at the home of his club's most bitter rivals, and those bitter rivals end up winning 3-0, he avoids the pelters and brickbats. It's an enticing package, with fans more than happy to factor in a few growing pains, and stay off his back.

Some of that environmental cushioning will be instantly whipped away even if Sterling and his representatives back down and accept the generous £100,000-a-week stipend currently on offer from Liverpool. His wage tripled at a stroke, sympathy for tired young bones would come at a premium. No more mid-season breaks in warmer climes. Meanwhile paying punters will expect a few more of those chances to be tucked away. The inconsistencies of youth would still be tolerated, but only to a degree concomitant with newer, plusher circumstances. No-shows like this week's invisible performance at Swansea would be deconstructed under an unforgiving light. There'd be three times the pressure to deliver against Manchester United at the weekend. A harsh world, but if you place yourself on the high-value shelf, folk are going to demand better bang for their buck.

Sterling nevertheless has the smarts to cope with any increased pressure. To be scrupulously fair, he'll have earned such a rise (in the context of football's crazy micro-economy, anyway). His is a rare talent. It's simple market forces, and fans will recognise that without placing unreasonable Superman-style demands on their young player. But a sliding scale operates here, and pushing the point any further may prove counter-productive in the long run.

Should Sturridge's representatives hold out for parity with Liverpool's highest earners, such as £150,000 a week Daniel Sturridge, the whole dynamic changes. Sterling will be expected to deliver every week, as Sturridge does for the most part. Youth no longer comes into the equation. And at some point the pressures could adversely affect the development of a callow 20-year-old with much still to learn.

Easy to say from the outside, of course, when it's not our bank balances that'll be affected. But Sterling would do well to grab Liverpool's current offer with both hands, and sit tight for another couple of seasons, concentrating on his development. Under the tutelage of Brendan Rodgers, he's in the process of expanding his range, a multi-faceted player playing all across the front line and just behind it, interchangeable, not merely a winger now. Defensive resilience, too. There's a chance he could morph into the complete player, in fact - if he ever learns how to shoot. And he'll be afforded time and space to breathe and take stock of his situation when he hits an inevitable rough patch. Another season or two of schooling won't do any harm.

He'll not be short of a bob or two whatever happens, and the mega-offers will soon roll in should he take another step up in class. Perhaps an offer from Liverpool, or one of the continental giants should he fancy that challenge. There's plenty time: Bale was 23 when he moved to the Bernabeu. Cristiano Ronaldo waited until he was 24. Luis Suarez was 27 when he left Liverpool for Barcelona. Nicolas Anelka, on the other hand, went to Madrid at 20, and despite all the medals, there's lingering sense that he never quite made the best of it. Poor old Nicolas Anelka.

Liverpool, for their part, have been criticised in some quarters for not giving the player exactly what he wants. And it's true that there's a danger the in-demand Sterling could simply up sticks and leave in one of the next three windows before his contract runs out. But the club can't afford to be held to ransom. Partly for obvious financial reasons. Partly because it's unbecoming to seem so desperate. But mainly because, while they'd love to have Sterling on their books for the next 10 years, the idea of building a team around one man is too dangerous to contemplate. Look at the difficulties Liverpool have had in adjusting to the loss of Suarez, upon whom they came a little too emotionally dependent.

And in any case, all should not be lost if Sterling and his representatives do decide to up sticks and chase the big deals early doors. There's always Jordon Ibe, or Harry Wilson, already an international at 16. But these big-bucks negotiations shouldn't be a zero-sum game. Sterling's representatives should stop obsessing about their protégé's maximum market value, and quickly broker a realistic and mutually beneficial arrangement with Liverpool.

Sterling can continue to prosper, Liverpool enjoy one of the world's brightest talents for a couple more seasons at the very least, and the player can always reconsider a dream move abroad at the ripe old age of 23 or 24. Nobody wants to be talking about "poor old Raheem Sterling" in a few years, after all.