Raheem Sterling scored the second goal for England as they won their opening Under 17 World Cup fixture with a 2-0 win over Rwanda at the weekend. The forward is one of six players from Liverpool in the England squad for the tournament in Mexico alongside Brad Smith, Adam Morgan, Jack Dunn, Matty Regan and Tyrell Belford.
Liverpool paid QPR a reported £600k for the player in February 2010 in a deal said to be potentially worth £5m to the London club Sterling had grown up supporting. He turned 16 in December and in a memorable week in February bagged five of Liverpool’s goals in the 9-0 FA Youth Cup win over Southend before getting a place in the first team squad that travelled to Prague for the Europa League tie against Sparta.
Sterling spoke to sportsvibe.co.uk after the England win and told them he knew it was going to be tough getting himself established in the first team at Anfield: “Liverpool are one of the best clubs in the world, so it is always going to be very difficult to break into the first team, the players at the club are of top quality – but it was a great experience for me when I was in the squad for the Europa League games last season.”
Despite the clamour from supporters to see him turning out for first team games he’s well aware that Liverpool will do all they can to ensure he makes that step at exactly the right time. It’s easy to forget that he was still at high school last month and that there is still a lot of time for him to make that next move, but he’s going to do all he can to ensure it happens: “I realised football was going to be my career when I was about 14. I had my heart set on becoming a professional footballer from a young age and was very determined to make it.”
The full interview with Raheem Sterling is available at sportsvibe.co.uk: Eye on England – Raheem Sterling.