The story of England Whizkid: Raheem Sterling
Did you know Sterling's real country is Jamaica? Let's go
Early life:
Raheem Shaquille Sterling was born on 8th of December 1994 by Nadine Sterling ( mother) and his father whose real name is unknown to majority. He was born in Maverley district in Kingston, Jamaica. Sterling's father is a tout who lived a careless life all through his life and got his mother pregnant and rejected the baby until when Raheem was born. His father initially refused to claim the boy but when Raheem was born, you will know by merely looking at him due to too much resemblance making his Dad family to claim him. He stayed with his mother with a plan to later go to his Dad after some years. Raheem Sterling later lost his Dad when he was two when his Dad was gunned down by some mob at the entrance of his own Father's house.
Sterling grew up in Maverley district, an area plagued by guns, drugs and gangland warlords. Sterling was introduced to football at the age of 3 by his cousin, Wayne Mattison, now 53.
He'd spent up to eight hours a day playing, stopping only when gun violence flared nearby. Concerned for her children's safety and future, Nadine, now 44, left Jamaica for a new life in London, leaving Sterling and his older stepsister Lakima with their grandmother, Joy Morris. Nadine later came to Jamaica back to pick Sterling so as to take proper care of him in London when he was 5.
His life in England was almost as difficult as he moved regularly before the family settled on the St Raphael’s estate in Neasden, Northwest London, in the shadow of Wembley Stadium.
Sterling went to Vernon House, a school for kids with educational needs. It was there that he began to concentrate on his schoolwork and, at the age of 10, he took up football seriously.
Early football career:
Sterling continued his education at Copland school in North west London. He developed a great love for football after he was introduced to the game by his cousin. But after settling in England, his exposure to the life style in Kingston made him to be a bad boy in school as he is always punished by teachers and reported by students. Sterling grew up as a fierce and very troublesome fellow among his mate because he always bully them. His love for football made him to stop his bad character as one of his teachers took him to Wembley stadium and showed him the magnificent place. The teacher said ' Raheem, you will play here one day only if you will stop one habit'. He asked , what? And the teacher told him to promise him to stop being a bully or he won't allow him to play football in school again. Sterling made the promise and he turned a new leaf.
He was later enrolled to Alpha and Omega soccer academy where he started his football career in full. Sterling later joined QPR when he was 11 and was playing in their reserves at the age of 14.
Liverpool career:
Sterling was signed by Liverpool from the Academy at Queens Park Rangers in February 2010 by Rafael Benítez for an initial fee of £600,000, with the possibility of rising up to £5 million depending on how many appearances he made for the first team.
He initially played in the club's youth team , scoring his first goal in a friendly against Hibernian in a 2–2 draw. His first Premier Academy League match was a 2–2 draw against Aston Villa, with his first win coming at home to Bristol City a week later. On 15 December, he scored in the FA Youth Cup in a 4–0 win over Notts County. On 14 February 2011, Sterling scored five goals in a 9–0 win over Southend United . On 24 March 2012, Sterling made his senior Liverpool debut as a substitute in a league match against Wigan Athletic, aged 17 years and 107 days, becoming the third-youngest player to play for the club in the process. He made two more appearances over the remainder of the campaign, again as a substitute.
Contract dispute:
On 9 February 2015, Brendan Rodgers said that Sterling had been offered "an incredible deal" to stay at Liverpool, rumoured to be a new contract worth £100,000 a week, but he also stated Liverpool were "certainly not a club that is going to give way, way above what a player is worth at a certain time in their career. However, on 20 March, Rodgers said Sterling's contract situation would not be resolved until the summer at least.
On 1 April, Sterling gave an unsanctioned interview with the BBC, where he confirmed he had turned down a new deal, but denied that this was for reasons of money. He had two years of a £35,000 per week contract remaining and said that he would not negotiate a new contract until the end of the season. Four days later, Brendan Rodgers slammed Sterling's advisors (Aidy Ward) on the interview, saying, "You are not a 20-year-old boy and you pick up the phone and ask to speak to the BBC. You don't do it. Him in particular. But, of course, if he is asked to do that by other parties then that is what he'll do.
On 21 May, amid rumours that Sterling intended to leave the club his agent, Aidy Ward gave an interview to the London Evening Standard saying, "I don't care about the PR of the club and the club situation... He is definitely not signing. He's not signing for £700, £800, £900 thousand a week.
On 11 June, Liverpool reportedly rejected an initial bid of £30 million from Manchester City. One week later, they reportedly rejected a second bid from City for £40 million, with Liverpool valuing Sterling at £50 million. Sterling reportedly later asked to be left out of Liverpool's preseason tour to Asia, and missed two days of training through illness, which was met with widespread criticism from former Liverpool players, including Steven Gerrard , Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness.
Manchester city career:
On 12 July 2015, a deal was agreed for his transfer to Manchester City for an initial £44 million, with a further potential £5 million in add-ons, subject to personal terms and a medical, which would make him one of the most expensive transfers of all time. On 14 July, Sterling officially joined Manchester City, signing a five-year contract. His debut came on 10 August, starting as City began the season with a 0–3 win away to West Bromwich Albion. Nineteen days later, Sterling scored his first competitive goal for Manchester City in a 2–0 defeat of Watford at the City of Manchester Stadium . Sterling scored his first career hat-trick as City beat Bournemouth 5–1 on 17 October. On 3 November, Sterling scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 1–3 win away to Sevilla . On 8 December, he scored twice in the final ten minutes of City's last group stage fixture against Borussia Mönchengladbach, helping turn a 1–2 deficit into a 4–2 win and ensuring City overtook Juventus in the final group standings. On 20 March 2016, he suffered a groin injury in a 1–0 loss to rivals Manchester United, and was ruled out for 8 weeks. Sterling eventually lost his place in the starting line-up.
2016 to 2018
Sterling appeared regularly for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola for the opening matches of the 2016–17 season. He was Premier League Player of the Month for August 2016 after he scored two goals and provided one assist in three games. On 21 February 2017, Sterling scored the opener before setting up a goal for Sergio Agüero in a 5–3 home win against Monaco in the Champions League. On 26 August 2017, Sterling scored the winner in a 2–1 away win away to AFC Bournemouth in stoppage time. He was sent off by Mike Dean with a second yellow after he celebrated among travelling supporters that had run onto the pitch. On 29 November 2017, Sterling scored a 96th minute winner against Southampton in a 2–1 home win. He scored his eighteenth and final league goal of the season during a 5–0 victory at Swansea City on 22 April 2018, his most ever at this point in his career.
2018–19 season
Following England's World Cup campaign , Sterling made an immediate return to the Manchester City starting line-up. On 12 August 2018, less than a month after starting in England's 2–0 loss against Belgium in the third place play-off, Sterling scored the opening goal in Manchester City's 2–0 away win against
Arsenal. The strike was Sterling's 50th Premier League goal. On 4 November 2018, Sterling scored twice and made two assists in a 6–1 win against Southampton at home, scoring his 50th goal for Manchester City in all competitions in the process. In November 2018, he signed a three-year extension to keep him at City until 2023. In December 2018, Sterling alleged that sections of the media served to "fuel racism" with their portrayal of young black footballers. The comments emerged after Sterling was subjected to alleged racist abuse during City's 2–0 defeat at Chelsea. He started off 2019 with a 2–1 win against Liverpool, where he assisted Leroy Sané 's winning goal. On 6 January 2019, he scored a goal and assisted one in a 7–0 win against Rotherham, which booked their place in the fourth round. On 20 January 2019, he headed a goal to help City win 3–0 over Huddersfield Town. On 3 February 2019, he helped assist two of Sergio Agüero's goal to beat Arsenal 3–1, which helped City move 2 points behind Liverpool. On 10 February 2019, he scored two goals to beat Chelsea 6–0 at the Etihad. On 20 February 2019, in a first leg match of the Champions League against
Schalke , he scored the winning goal in the 90th minute in a 3–2 win. In the Carabao Cup Final on 24 February 2019, he scored the winning penalty in the penalty shootout to win the cup. The following month, he scored a hat-trick for the first time since 2015 within the space of 13 minutes – the fastest hat-trick of the season – to secure a 3–1 victory over Watford . He scored again in the return leg of Man City's Champions League clash with Schalke to help the club record a 7–0 (10–2) victory and equal the record for the largest winning margin in the knockout-phase of the competition.
Other stories:
In April 2018, the Manchester City forward sparked fury among anti-gun campaigners after he unveiled a new tattoo depicting an M16 assault rifle on his right leg.
Later, he defended the inking, citing its "deeper meaning" - his dad's death. On Instagram, he wrote: "When I was 2 my father died from being gunned down to death I made a promise to myself I would never touch a gun in my life time. "I shoot with my right foot so it has a deeper meaning and still unfinished. "It was a rare insight into a subject Sterling had chosen to keep private. It was also a reminder of the 23-year-old's burdensome path to stardom.
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