Man City star Raheem Sterling backed to become England's hero at World Cup
RAHEEM STERLING’S stunning transformation into Manchester City’s “main man” augurs well for Gareth Southgate as he plots England’s World Cup bid.
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Southgate has been hugely encouraged by the winger’s maturity on and off the field as well as the drastic improvement in his finishing and tactical play.
Now he has to replicate for his country what he is doing for his club.
Remember, it was only 18 months ago that Sterling suffered vitriolic abuse from many England followers for the Euro 2016 flop under Roy Hodgson and some of his international performances since have not set the world alight.
Sterling’s career is on an upward trajectory, however, having developed a thick skin, ignored the criticism on social media, cut out the partying and reaping the benefits of pure hard graft on the training ground under Pep Guardiola’s demanding tutelage.
He started the season with a huge vote of confidence from Guardiola who told Arsene Wenger that there was “zero chance” of him taking the winger to Arsenal in exchange for Alexis Sanchez.
He definitely looks more grown up than last year
And Sterling has responded to Guardiola’s demands to utilise his talents to the full by scoring 13 goals for City this season, the latest being the last-gasp winner against Southampton.
City’s German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who could well face Sterling in Russia next summer, puts the Londoner’s form down to maturity, hard graft and better decision making.
He said: “What’s changed in him? Before something changes on the field there always has to be a change in your head.
“He definitely looks more grown up than last year, more clinical than last year, and he just takes so many right decisions at the moment.
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“It’s also about the way he does the easy things, the control, putting the ball exactly where he has the best chance to shoot it – all these easy things that last year he was a little bit more nervous with when he got the ball.
“Now he is just calm and focussed and does a lot of things the right way. At the moment it feels like he is the main man for us, by scoring these late winners. If you look at his numbers, it shows you how important for us and he is having a great season.”
Sterling has emphatically silenced the old criticism from his spell at Liverpool and early days at City that his “end product” was poor.
Wednesday’s winner was the third time in eight days, and the eighth time this season, he has scored a goal in the final 10 minutes of a game. And his goals have earned City seven points in the Premier League alone.
