Soccer: Sterling effort paying off

Raheem Sterling has become as essential to Liverpool's title bid as Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard. Photo / AP

Reds tearaway has transformed into England's man of the moment, writes Chris Bascombe

There was a point shortly after his Liverpool debut last season when Raheem Sterling was momentarily in danger of being perceived as an emblem of the ills of English football.

When preliminary discussions about Sterling's first professional contract were held and some excessive salaries were subject to public debate, Brendan Rodgers openly and pointedly lamented the "too much, too soon" culture of the modern game. Rodgers recounted tales from former clubs, of "kids who'd achieved nothing driving to training in a Lamborghini" and offered paternal advice to the winger.

"I have seen it so much with young players," Rodgers said. "You see these young boys play one or two games, they get handed super-duper contracts and then they go down. When they reach 22 and 23, you hear people ask, 'What has happened to so and so?' "

One of the most watched clips from the Being Liverpool documentary showed Rodgers, a fortnight into the job, telling a relatively unknown Sterling that he would be sent home from the pre-season tour of Boston if he did not start listening. What followed was the classic carrot-and-stick policy from the Liverpool manager. In the second game of last season Sterling was given his first league start, against Manchester City and in a period of transition during Rodgers' early months, it was the teenager's performance that most demonstrated his great promise. By the time Sterling was dropping his shoulder and selling a dummy to half of City's defence last week the initial vigilance surrounding his career development had long given way to thrilling anticipation.

There is currently only admiration for the manner in which a player of such a tender age is performing with such maturity and panache, while his most recent feet-on-the-ground interviews suggest previous fears were at worst unjust and at best far too hasty. After the hype surrounding his initial breakthrough, it could now be argued we were not talking enough about how good Sterling is. Liverpool is not the easiest of clubs - and, quite often, not the easiest of cities - to be a precocious teenager everyone recognises. Sterling is not a Kop Academy graduate like Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard - he was signed for a record fee for a 15-year-old from QPR in 2010 - but he must have felt burdened with the same responsibility in those early months.

For a while comparisons between Sterling and those prodigies of old were unfavourable. He was a peripheral figure, and his current run began inauspiciously at Hull in December, a game Liverpool lost.

Two court appearances on minor assault charges - one of which he was cleared and another dropped due to lack of evidence - contributed to a negative aura around him, even if in both cases there was nothing to suggest the complaints should ever have gone as far as they did. Sterling has even found himself in the most unlikely position for a 19-year-old of publicly clarifying how many children he has fathered.

He has a two-year-old daughter, Melody Rose, but admitted recently the online rumours of more contributed to the image. "It made people think badly of me, that I'm not really grounded, that I'm out and about doing loads of madness," he said.

Prior to Sterling's recall, Rodgers said: "We mustn't forget he is 18. He needs to stabilise his life, understand the remarkable opportunity he has at one of the biggest clubs in the world and focus everything in on his career. Once he does, we can get to the level of performance of the first four or five months of last year."

The catalyst for change came against Liverpool's next opponents, Norwich, on December 5. Sterling started poorly, surrendering possession earning a groan from the Kop. Then Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick, the stadium mood changed and when Sterling chased down a lost cause he earned a standing ovation. He has been brilliant ever since, as essential to the title bid as Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Gerrard.

Sterling has gone from Liverpool's bench, realistically targeting the 2016 European Championship, to ensuring there will a public inquiry if he is not in Roy Hodgson's World Cup squad this summer. Hodgson was at Anfield last week, sitting alongside assistant Ray Lewington, who has visited Merseyside enough lately to ensure screeds of positive scouting reports on Sterling.

How the England manager uses such technically gifted English talent will dominate the World Cup agenda.

"I hope he is impressed by how I tracked back," was the rather depressing observation by Sterling a few weeks back.

One hopes Hodgson saw the shimmies and turns of pace against City and considered there is more to Sterling than someone who will cover the forward runs of Kyle Walker. Sterling is an altogether different symbol of English soccer now.

He is firmly established as the player who most represents an era of glorious possibilities for club and country.