The controversial Liverpool starlet is being judged on a potential price tag that says far more about the nature of England's top flight than it does about him, says Liam Twomey.
As Raheem Sterling produced another performance of toothless promise during England’s hard-fought Euro 2016 qualifying victory over Slovenia on Sunday, the sneering social media reaction highlighted that many were viewing his struggles in front of goal through the prism of an acrimonious contract standoff with Liverpool and the ever-increasing numbers being attached to his name.
To say – as more than a few did – that Sterling’s clumsy shot over the bar from an inspired Wayne Rooney flick in the fourth minute in Ljubljana was not the finish of a 50 million pound man is simultaneously obvious and ridiculous.