Raheem Sterling is regarded as one of the brightest talents in English football, the 17-year-old Jamaican-born winger has a mixture of pace and trickery making him a potent attacking threat. Having impressed for Liverpool’s youth sides last term in the NextGen Cup, interest in his signature has hotted up, with Spurs rumoured to be preparing a £7.5m bid for his services.
Raheem, who has represented England in U- 16 and U- 17 level’s had a seven year spell at London Club QPR before Joining the Red’s in the summer of 2010. He made his Liverpool debut against Wigan in the premier league. With Tottenham and QPR battling it out for the signing of the youngster, Liverpool are doing their best to keep Raheem at Anfield.
Sterling is, arguably, the pick of an excellent crop of youngsters in the Reds’ youth ranks, and has been talked about as a future star since his arrival from QPR. Liverpool who have already secured the signings of Sigurdsson and Fabio Borini, following the appointment of Rodgers should not lose the promising Youngster to another club and especially to Spurs who will be battling with Liverpool for the Championship spot. Raheem Sterling was given a handful of first-team minutes last season, under Kenny Dalglish, and looked fairly comfortable with the pressures of top level football, hinting that he could be a star in the making.
Despite his ambitions, Sterling is surely aware that he cannot be first choice for a club with Liverpool’s stature at the age of 17. But, he is ready to play a significant part in the squad, especially when the club have to fight both domestically, and on the continental stage in the Europa League. His injection of pace, and the fact he is a relatively unknown quantity, could make him a useful tool to Rodgers.
For all of Liverpool’s quality in their squad, pace from wide is something that has been long missing. Stewart Downing is likely to perform to a higher level this term, but he has never been a lightning-fast winger, and Sterling could offer the injection of speed needed to unlock a defence.