With the 2015/16 English Premier League season a matter of weeks away, Richard Jolly identifies the six players who, each in their own way, will shape the 2015/16 campaign. Here he looks at Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, the big mover.
The first time Raheem Sterling attempted to beat a man while wearing a Manchester City shirt, he trod on the ball, stumbled and lost his footing. The first time he tried to shoot, he had the composure and the class to place the ball into the Roma net.
For those who were seeking signs or moments of symbolic significance, the opening three minutes of his friendly debut provided both.
Is Sterling the overrated youngster with a high price tag and a surfeit of confidence but one who has yet to actually achieve anything? Or is he the fast starter whose talents have propelled him to prominence at a tender age and whose notoriety stems from the reality that his mistakes have been made in public, whereas other youngsters’ errors are obscured by their anonymity?
Truth be told, he is both.
Sterling was the recipient of the Golden Boy award in 2014, which is given to the brightest prospect in European football, but he has yet to win a trophy in his career. He briefly lit up the 2014 Fifa World Cup, terrorising Italy for an hour, but England still lost the game and made an ignominiously early exit from Brazil.
The National’s 2015/16 English Premier League preview series
He was the youngest of the cast of intrepid attackers who almost propelled Liverpool to the Premier League title in improbable fashion, yet his form was decidedly mixed in the slump to sixth the following season. He has commanded one of the dozen highest fees in football history and struck three times in three pre-season games for City, but he has never scored a Uefa Champions League goal.
He had the chance to become Liverpool’s figurehead, at age 20, after Steven Gerrard. Instead, his Anfield career concluded in a 6-1 defeat to Stoke City when he was an unused substitute and he was booed by supporters at Liverpool’s annual honours. His exit was acrimonious, following some particularly undignified mud-slinging.
Sterling’s argument is that ambition drove him to City. The claim on Merseyside is that greed led to his exit. As is often the case in such situations, opinions have been subjected to revisionist thinking. Sterling’s advocates are now his detractors.
Traits such as fearlessness and confidence that brought him admirers are now seen as signs of an arrogance and an ingratitude towards Liverpool. What is undeniable is that they have been well compensated for their part in his development. His £49 million (Dh281.3m) transfer fee reflects the inflated price of buying British, not to mention the cost of signing players from championship rivals.
City have paid handsomely for potential. Some might say that Liverpool profited by talking up a talent.
Sterling, his former manager Brendan Rodgers said in April 2014, is “the best young player in European football at the moment”. That was the month when Sterling sent Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart the wrong way with remarkable ease when firing Liverpool ahead against City at Anfield, the month after he had tormented Manchester United, a squat, stocky sprinter somehow reinvented as a No 10.
Team guide: A Manchester City in transition, but still ultra-talented
When he next visited Old Trafford, however, a winger was pressed into service as a striker. This time, Sterling suffered the ordeal. David de Gea denied him time and again, highlighting the imperfections in his finishing. His tenure at Liverpool yielded 23 goals from 129 games, a return that was more promising than prolific.
As City opt for a one-striker system, with Sergio Aguero set to be deployed alone in attack, it is more significant that midfielders chip in with goals. Sterling is the man signed to stretch defences, both laterally and vertically.
“He has the speed that we don’t have so we have a different way of playing. He’s the player we need,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini said.
Certainly, Sterling’s age and nationality make him stand out in a City squad that is often accused of being too old and too dominated by foreign players. Yet the hope is that opposites attract. The best form of his career came alongside Luis Suarez. City have a sizeable contingent of world-class players.
Pellegrini said: “I think he will improve a lot in the future, playing with Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero.”
It is significant that the most expensive player in the club’s history is seen as a work in progress. His teammates are the finished article. City boast a World Cup winner and finalists, a four-time African Player of the Year and a contingent of proven winners.
They have the honours, Sterling more to prove. His CV is notable for distinctions, good and bad, within his age group.
He was the third-youngest footballer to represent Liverpool and the youngest to be sent off playing for England. He has twice been shortlisted for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. He has scored more goals than either Frank Lampard or Gerrard had at the same age.
Yet the contradictions in his career make his character more compelling, and the toxic nature of his transfer means he will be judged as a £49m man, not a 20-year-old talent.
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