What lies ahead for Raheem Sterling? The question hangs heavy as the once-electrifying winger faces an uncertain future.
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The Sadness of Raheem Sterling
Before heading to the airport, I reached out to a former Dutch international to understand what went wrong with Raheem Sterling. Jan Everse, who started his career at Feyenoord, played alongside Johan Cruyff at Ajax, and later managed PEC Zwolle with a young Arne Slot in his squad, is amused that a sports journalist is flying from the UK to watch a player who, under different circumstances, might have been at this summer’s World Cup.
“You’re coming to see Raheem Sterling?” he asks. “Does your boss not like you very much?”
Sterling, he explains, is enduring a rough spell. How rough?
“It’s over,” he states matter-of-factly. “I hope I’ve made a mistake and misjudged him, but I don’t think so. Look at the internet comments—the fans are tearing him apart. They’re calling him ‘the biggest failure in our history.’”
“He’s not fit. If he makes three or four sprints, you don’t see him for 20 minutes. He’s lost his explosiveness. He trips over his own feet. He hesitates, afraid to make mistakes. One-on-one, he never beats a defender. Now, without his old speed, he plays it safe. He has no confidence because he knows he can’t do what he wants to do.”
“I feel pity for him. I don’t usually pity footballers because I know how much they earn. But I pity him because he was such a fantastic footballer, and I can still picture the old Raheem Sterling in my memory. It’s not a happy marriage. And when you pity a player with his qualities and background, you know it’s over.”
Raheem Sterling didn’t get the fresh start he needed by moving to Feyenoord (Bas Czerwinski/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s over? At age 31? I got off the phone thinking it must be worse than I imagined, but I also wanted to see it for myself. I’ve been covering Sterling since he broke through as a 17-year-old at Liverpool, through his Manchester City years and his long, often brilliant England career. I know his tough character and have seen his elite mentality up close.
Arriving in Rotterdam, however, I sensed little sympathy from fans gathered at Oude Haven or opposite De Kuip stadium in Puck van Heelstraat, where supporters drink and eat before matches.
“Did you see what Willem van Hanegem said?” asks Dennis, a Feyenoord fan in the team’s red and white shirt among a boisterous crowd outside the Hollywood pub. “That’s how everyone feels. At this point, everyone will be happy when it’s over.”
Van Hanegem, a Dutch football legend with a stand named after him at Feyenoord, recently said of Sterling: “If I were them, I’d ask for my money back and say, ‘Just go home.’”
I’ve already been told that Sterling’s poor form has caused tension between Feyenoord coach Robin van Persie and some journalists. Van Persie has faced harsh criticism himself this season. In February, he gave bouquets of flowers to two press box critics to mark his first anniversary in the job. The criticism of Sterling has been another sore point. “Typically Dutch,” Van Persie complained, arguing it was unfair to judge the player until he had been at the club for six to eight weeks. But after that period, Sterling was out of the team.
Robin van Persie has defended Sterling since his arrival in January (Peter Lous/Eye4Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Sunday’s game felt like Sterling’s farewell to Rotterdam. Feyenoord drew 1-1 with AZ to secure second place and Champions League qualification. It was their last home match of the season, and Jordan Bos, an Australian international usually a left-back, played the wide-left attacking role Sterling was supposed to fill.
This was the third time in four games that Sterling, on a short-term contract, was an unused substitute. I wonder if Van Persie kept him off the pitch to spare him from more ridicule after his previous performances.
Take the game at NAC Breda in March, when Sterling made his first start. He was substituted just after the hour. “Sterling didn’t start well,” Van Hanegem wrote in a column. “Then the crowd laughed at him. I don’t like that. That boy has won everything in his career; show him some respect.”
Or the home game against Groningen last month, when Sterling came on as a 74th-minute substitute. A Dutch journalist messaged me late in the second half: “It’s getting a bit sad now. Sterling just got on the pitch, a ball is played to him, and he falls over trying to run past a defender. Everyone’s just laughing at him in the stadium.”
In happier times, there were questions at England press conferences about whether Sterling could win the Ballon d’Or. Perhaps that was over the top, given he’d have to surpass Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. But Sterling was seven years younger than Messi and almost a decade younger than Ronaldo. When those two moved on, could it be his time? Gareth Southgate, then England manager, nodded in agreement, not ruling it out.
“In terms of, ‘Can he fulfil it?’, he’ll give himself every chance,” Southgate said after a 5-3 win over Kosovo in 2019. “There are some outstanding players around—Hazard, De Bruyne, Messi, Ronaldo. But he has the drive, the professionalism, the ability. He’s physically and mentally strong for such a small-statured lad.”
Raheem Sterling at his peak against Kosovo in 2019 (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Sterling was 12th in the Ballon d’Or voting that year, then 15th in 2021. For England, he earned 82 caps across three World Cups. At Euro 2021, he was named in UEFA’s team of the tournament. He won four Premier League titles with Manchester City, the Golden Boy award at Liverpool, and received an MBE in 2021 for services to racial equality. Ignoring how it ended at Chelsea and Arsenal, it’s a career that commands respect.
So I waited for Van Persie after Sunday’s game to learn more. What went wrong? What happens next?
He chose his words carefully. “The question with Raheem was never about his qualities. He has scored over 200 goals in England—it’s a slight exaggeration, but OK. In my opinion, he was and still is a winner. From day one, he has worked really hard. We were building him up fitness-wise, and he was slowly getting better… but at the same time, we had to win every single game to achieve our goal of Champions League football.”
That last line—the inevitable ‘but’—feels significant. It doesn’t explain why, three months in, Sterling seems further from the team than ever. But Van Persie noted mitigating circumstances: before the move to Feyenoord, Sterling had seven months without football after Chelsea’s decision to “bomb-squad” a player they had bought for £47.5 million from Manchester City. He made 17 league appearances on loan at Arsenal, but only seven starts, and three full 90-minute performances in all competitions.
Sterling has only featured sporadically for Feyenoord (Sonny Lensen/ANP via Getty Images)
Ostracized by Chelsea, which was paying him £325,000 a week, Sterling hired a personal trainer, Ben Rosenblatt. Before leaving Rotterdam, I called Rosenblatt to ask about the accusation that Sterling’s legs are gone.
Rosenblatt has coached over 1,000 athletes, including world and Olympic medalists. “I’ve been in football and professional sport long enough to know everyone has an opinion,” he says. “But I also know it’s a very fickle world. My experience—and I’ve discussed this with Raheem—is that it takes only one moment to change everyone’s opinion and give yourself positive momentum.”
Rosenblatt calls Sterling “a freak, an incredible specimen.” As part of a tailored fitness regimen, Sterling was tested on an alpine track near Surrey, used by the British army for tanks. But the long layoff left him playing catch-up.
“It was gobsmacking,” says Rosenblatt. “When we