Manchester City are clear front-runners for his signature and are willing to make a third bid of £45 million, including add-ons, after their first two approaches were knocked back by Liverpool.
The Blues have been waiting on Sterling's next move before launching a fresh bid and while the Reds have refused to comment on the situation, Goal understands the 20-year-old's decision to tell Brendan Rodgers he is not in the right frame of mind to travel on tour could spark activity at the Etihad Stadium.
Sterling is one of City's top transfer targets this summer, along with Juventus' Paul Pogba and Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne, but so far they have been unable to seal any deals.
While Sterling's row with Liverpool plays out in public, City look to be behind Barcelona in the race to sign Pogba despite a willingness to break the world transfer record, and the club are also awaiting developments on De Bruyne's contract talks with Wolfsburg before showing their hand.
But progress is now expected in their pursuit of Sterling after the youngster sat down with Rodgers at Melwood to reaffirm his desire to leave Anfield and insist he is not prepared to join up with his team-mates in their overseas pre-season preparations.
Liverpool are due to fly out on Sunday ahead of a game against the Thai All Stars in Bangkok next Tuesday, with matches against A-League outfits Brisbane and Adelaide next up before they face a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur.
The Reds have signed six players already this summer as they look to improve on last season's sixth-placed finish, with Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Nathaniel Clyne, Danny Ings, Joe Gomez and Adam Bogdan already recruited.
The club are also expected to launch a bid for Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, although his asking price remains fixed at £32.5m.
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