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A Rational Look at Raheem Sterling

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WITH all heads turned for the new manager at Liverpool Football Club, many are forgetting that young, progressing players have near equal potential to stabilize the future.

After exciting a great many, as young stars do, the time is arriving in which Raheem Sterling’s value will be verified or result in disappointment.

Starting with the basics, he is a Jamaican born athlete whom we bought from QPR 2 years ago for some healthy cost. He has made plenty of appearances for the England U-16 & U-17 squads, trained apparently remarkably well with the academy and reserves, and has now been witnessed three times on the pitch with the senior squad.

When I watched his reasonably anticipated debut, he looked as lost as a 17-year 107-day old should. Despite how old he has made me feel, I admittedly felt delighted to see a new excited youth attacking from the wing.

It was then I realized I shouldn’t allow myself to get caught up in too much hype (such as those who have already compared him to Rooney or Walcott), and took a step back. Many times, those labelled prodigious at a young age have simply developed early and unfortunately maxout young as well – Freddy Adu for example – failing to improve a great deal further.

Then again, there are those youngsters who score on their debut aged only 17 years and 144 days, lead the team in scoring next season, and rack up a total of 158 goals in 297 appearances over a span of eight years. Yes, I am speaking of Michael Owen, though I’d rather not have Sterling follow his path if it means transferring to United.

If he does progress into further stardom: Well in. He will provide pace and flair which has become increasingly rare at LFC in this era. Also, if he does become a regular first team starter, he will have saved us money for the transfer market (perhaps for a penalty taker!)

If he fails to develop to the unusually yet suitably high expectations placed on him, it will indeed be a disappointment, but by no means an ignorant investment made by Liverpool. Clubs such as Chelsea and both Manchester sides were in the race to sign him before he smartened up and signed for the Reds. There is cover for Sterling if he does fail to impress in the near future, but nonetheless I do hope the best is still to come from him.
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14 comments

  • victor says:

    pls last play dat guy

  • professor zem says:

    If we don’t start giving him more first team action he will most likely seek opportunities away from Anfield. Isn’t the whole point in having the Academy to bring forward future talent for the club?

  • Junssius says:

    I think it was great for Sterling that the new manager is Rodgers. Sterling might suit very well to the either side of our becoming “tiki-taka” style.

  • slowliff says:

    What a useless article.
    professor zem says more in 2 sentences……and better!

  • HERBIE says:

    Perfect fit for brendan rodgers style and formations, if given his chance early, he will be a good bet for pfa young player award! Just hope he gets a good run of games in pre-season! Good luck brendan, raheem and all the entire team of lfc! Y..N..W..A jft96!

  • Mo says:

    Suso is way better than sterling and has a lot more to offer!

    • Almundo says:

      I am not sure about that, however both are amazing talents and both play for LFC! Hopefully happy times ahead.

      YNWA

  • jeven says:

    no

  • Huw Jarse says:

    When he made his debut against Wigan, he did more in the last ten minutes than the rest of the team put together. This article is complete bollocks.

    • Nigel k says:

      Lol that’s so true! He and suso may well get opportunities under brendan Rodgers. Even Pacheco cos he will evaluate the entire squad, won’t he. Pacheco had all but been forgotten about. Had two poor loan spells in Spain but maybe with the right motivation and belief he could do a job for us or better. Long shot I know.. I say this cos swansea’s squad isn’t all that- dyer, Sinclair – but they played very well last season and no one can take that away from that team. Allen and Britton also. Vorm etc I’m really intrigued to see how he can lift our players because we do have a good squad. They for whatever reason(s) seem toothless to attack teams in some games, hence the poor home form and failing to beat ‘lesser’ teams….

  • david says:

    I started to watch next gen football last season because I was hearing about what a fanastic youth team we had, and we do. But I also noticed other teams have amazing youngsters coming through too. Sterling is 17, our best prospect and most importantly a fanatastic footballer almost certain to be world class. But he also needs to be managed carefully. Coming in at 17 to such a high tempo and physical league might see his legs get a battering or produce hamstring problems, which began to dog michael owen at an early age. So yes we need to give him much more playing time but he needs to be managed sensibly

  • ben marlow says:

    In my opinion Brendan should give Sterling and other youngster Suso a chance as with the passing style we will surely instill, they will have no shortage of possession and will have great chances to prove themselves- IF Brendan plays them, and that’s a big if.

  • robinrosh says:

    y not a fan zone of lfc? i mean reading the comments of lfc fans makes me thinks that fans could take better decision than the club staff.! if ever fans could put pressure on managers it would b great because fans <the majority thinks better and cares much more about his club

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