Before writing something that could be potentially seen as a criticism of Sterling, it’s important we add this caveat: the winger has been incredible on the field for Manchester City and his work off it to combat racism must be 100% applauded – regardless of the unpleasant manner in which he engineered a Liverpool exit in 2015.
Sterling has moved on from the furore that surrounded his Anfield sale and in fairness, so have we.
Liverpool have an entirely different management setup, team and prospects now than we did four years ago.
So considering all that, as well as how much the 24-year-old has clearly grown up and become a respected figure in the game, we find it a bit odd that he’s making unsubtle digs at a club who played an enormous part in his development.
Last night, Sterling rightly won the Integrity and Impact Award at the BT Sport Industry Awards – and while he made plenty of insightful comments during his speech – he peddled out the lazy cliche that City winning the title ahead of Liverpool would be doing everybody a favour…
“Any slip and you’ve got the Liverpool guys that can go on top and you don’t want, I don’t want that and I don’t think anybody wants that!” he said, getting a cheap laugh from the audience.
Ah, it’s not exactly the end of the world, is it? Sterling does get relentlessly booed by Liverpool fans and we’re probably big enough to brush this nonsense off – considering everybody else in the world has been saying it all season.
He did praise Steven Gerrard during his speech – so really – the fact ‘nobody likes us’ is more indicative of the fact we’re now bloody good at football than anything else.
What’s your thoughts on Sterling now, Reds?