Raheem Sterling, the speedy winger who has grabbed headlines all over the world for his sudden rise to prominence in a top four Liverpool side, is a player who with time has the potential to become not only one of Liverpool FC’s greatest, but one of England’s greatest players to grace the pitch.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Sterling immigrated to London at the age of five. Because of FIFA’s home nations agreement, which allows players who were educated in their nation for at least five years to play for the national team, Sterling was given the option to represent England. He took the opportunity and first represented England in November, 2009 at the U-16 level, showing promise and developing in the Academy at Queens Park Rangers FC.
Interest from bigger clubs began to grow, and in 2010 Rafael Benitez staved off competition for the bright youth player, signing him from QPR for an initial fee of £600,000(which had a potential raise to £5 million depending on his amount of first team appearances). Aged 15 at the time, Sterling was on his way to a promising career at Anfield.
While at LFC’s Academy, Sterling turned heads, scoring five of Liverpool’s nine goals during the FA Youth Cup thrashing of Southend in early 2011. Excitement over Raheem Sterling rose, and he was subsequently called up to the first team. At 17 he made his official debut for the club in a 2-1 league defeat by Wigan. His first senior start came against Manchester City in August of 2012 and due to his solid performance he was given the nod to stay on the squad, jumping ahead of the line that included international players equipped with much more experience than the young starlet.
After being officially signed to LFC his formed dipped however, and his hype seemed to catch up with him, as injury further pushed him behind other more experienced players. The current campaign saw his prospective game-play surrounded with much speculation of a loan move, to gain more experience in order to reach the level adequate for Liverpool’s first team. But a break was on the horizon for young Sterling.
That break came when Daniel Sturridge, who had been enjoying a run of form, injured his ankle and left Rodgers with a glaring gap in the forward side of the pitch. Rodgers thrust the young winger into the front line, and at first, he picked up where he left off, underperforming against Hull City.
But Rodgers kept faith and gave him another start, and boy did it pay off. Known primarily for his pace, Sterling added another dimension to his game when he scored against Norwich City at Anfield. But he didn’t stop there. He went on to score in consecutive matches against Tottenham and Cardiff, and only increased in form from then on. It was after his brace against Arsenal that the buzz began to rejuvenate and he received a solid lock into the international team after a Man of the Match performance for England against Denmark.
This past week Sterling hauled in another Man of the Match performance during Liverpool’s 4-0 demolition of Tottenham. In the performance he won five out of six take-ons, the most out of any player on the pitch, and set the pace for the surging Liverpool side. Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness, in an interview with Sky Sports, talked of Sterling’s potential to be a “worldie”.
“The little man Sterling, well he could be an absolute superstar. I can’t believe how strong he is, how quick he is. And he’s got the ability to see the picture as well. He’s got absolutely everything and he tortured Tottenham at times today.”
Words like these are starting to become something of a norm in describing Sterling’s play.
Sterling credited his renaissance of form to his new found confidence, stating that he had been playing previously with the mindset of passing to the stars of the team. At the time, Suarez was on a tear that had people labeling his form the best in the world, ahead of active greats Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic (Messi had been injured at the time). Sterling stated in an interview with Liverpool’s Match Day magazine that he had decided it was important to respect the seniors, but at the same time he also acknowledged that he needed to take his own chances as well. This newfound confidence has of course worked wonders for him!
Currently, Sterling is among the team leaders in Average Pass Accuracy, at 80%, Total Chances Created at 35, and Shot Accuracy at 65%(which is actually better than both Suarez and Sturridge’s respective shot accuracies of 54 and 51 percent). He is on an absolutely brilliant run of form and is showing no signs of slowing down.
At the age of 19, Raheem Sterling has already cemented his place as one of the best wingers in the league and only has time to grow. With international and first team experience at his fingertips, his experience should only benefit him in the coming years. With much time on his side, I see Sterling stamping his place as an embodiment of class in the history books of LFC, the Premier League, and England’s World Cup history in the future.
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Stats via Squawka
