By Liam Ravescroft (@LFC_19)
Full name: Raheem Shaquille Sterling
Date of birth: 8 December 1994
Place of birth: Kingston, Jamaica
Height: 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position: Winger
Early Days
Sterling grew up in the Maverley, Kingston and was raised by his grandmother. Aged 5, Sterling moved from his hometown of Kingston, to London with his mother. Once in England, he went to Copland High School in Wembley. He has one daughter born in 2012, although it was reported that he had 2.
Starting Off
Raheem Sterling started off his football career at the Queens Park Rangers academy, aged only 10. At the age of 14, he was on the front cover of a Jamacan newspaper called The Gleaner who said he was making extremely good progress and reported that he had “dazzled the English football world with his prodigious talent”.
Moving To Liverpool
Sterling was signed in February 2010 by Rafael Benítez for a fee of £600,000, which could rise to £5 million. He made his first-first team appearance in a match friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany in August 2010.
Sterling scored his first goal Youth Team goal in a friendly against Hibernian, coming off the bench and scoring an equaliser. , Sterling’s first Premier Academy League match was against Aston Villa, it finished 2-2. His first league win was at home was a 3-0 win against Cristol City on 28 August 2010. On 14th February 2011, Sterling scored five goals for the youth team in a 9–0 win against Southend United in the FA Youth Cup
Sterling made his first team debut as a substitute in a league match against Wigan Athletic, aged just 17 years and 107 days. On 1st May he made his second appearance, as a substitute against Fulham. He made another substitute appearance in a 4–1 win against Chelsea.
Sterling scored his first goal for the first team in a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen. He started his first game for Liverpool in a Europa League qualifying match against Hearts in a 1–0 win. He was given his first start in the league three days later in a 2–2 draw at Anfield against Manchester City.
Sterling scored his first competitive goal for Liverpool in the 29th minute in a 1–0 league win against Reading. Because of this, he became the second-youngest player ever to score in a competitive fixture for Liverpool, behind Michael Owen.
On 21st December 2012, Sterling signed a contract extension and committed his future to Liverpool. He scored his second league goal for the club on 2nd January 2013 in a 3–0 win against Sunderland with a lob over new Liverpool goalkeeper, Simon Mignolet.
International Career
Sterling was called up to the senior England squad for the first time in a World Cup qualifying match against Ukraine, where he was an unused substitute. In October he was called up for the first time to the Under-21 squad and made his debut as a substitute against Serbia on 16th October. He made his senior debut for England on 14th November 2012, in a friendly away to Sweden.