Sterling not acting like a pro: Rodgers
Print Edition
WITH his dazzling skills and brilliant goals, Raheem Sterling has been one of the most exciting and talked-about soccer players in England over the last two seasons.
Recently, though, it’s his off-the-field activities that have been grabbing the headlines.
Two weeks after giving an unsanctioned interview saying he had rejected a new Liverpool deal worth 100,000 pounds (US$146,000) a week, the 20-year-old Sterling has appeared on the front page of two big-selling British newspapers in the space of three days. Pictures apparently showed him smoking a shisha pipe and also inhaling nitrous oxide, a legal high commonly known as “laughing gas” or “hippie crack”.
The controversies haven’t affected his on-the-field displays — he scored on his last appearances for England as well as for Liverpool on Monday — but Sterling finds himself at the center of increasing negativity.
“Young players make mistakes,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. “As long as they learn from them, that is what is important.”
While Sterling produces the goods on the field, Liverpool fans will continue to back their most crowd-pleasing player. He scored a superb opening goal in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Newcastle on Monday and was given a big ovation when he was substituted near the end.
It was a bit different inside Anfield on Friday, when Sterling was heckled by some fans as he modeled Liverpool’s new uniform at a launch ceremony.
Sterling told the BBC, in an interview Liverpool wasn’t informed about, that negotiations with the club over a new contract are on hold until the offseason and that he would have signed a fresh deal if it had been offered last year. Sterling said he would not be discussing extending his contract, which runs through June 2017, until the end of the season — no matter how much money Liverpool offered.
Rodgers said he was surprised at those comments — and he was also given a shock late on Monday when pictures emerged of Sterling taking nitrous oxide, which effectively pushes the oxygen out of the body. It can cause dizziness or affect your judgment, and there is a risk of unconsciousness. “It is something that when you are a professional sportsperson at the top level of the game, I don’t think it is something you should be doing. It is as simple as that,” Rodgers said. “But I will speak to him on it. I owe him that respect to see what he says.”
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