QPR youth team boss Steve Gallen says the club did all it could to try and keep hold of new Liverpool whizkid Raheem Sterling.
Sterling joined Liverpool last month and scored on his U18 debut.
Gallen told the Kilburn Times: "We put him in the reserves, Jim Magilton had him training with the first team when he was 14, and Gianni Paladini offered him the best contract I've ever seen for a young player.
"That would have been a scholarship and then a professional contract. We made it clear all along that we didn't want Raheem to go - but we knew he wanted to and realised a deal had to be done.
"Agents were putting it around that Manchester City had made a bid for Raheem, but that wasn't true and Arsenal didn't make an official offer for him either.
"Fulham and Liverpool were the only clubs who made bids and at no stage was Raheem interested in going to Fulham. When Liverpool came in, though, he jumped at it.
"Of course it's disappointing, but you can't stop a 15-year-old boy who wants to leave. Getting half a million pounds for a lad who'd come on twice for the reserves isn't a bad deal.
"I like the boy and I wish him well. I think he's an outstanding prospect with an unbelievable amount of talent and he can go to Liverpool and be an excellent player."
