When Raheem Sterling was left out of the last England squad, the message from Gareth Southgate was that the winger was unhappy with his fitness. He’d carried a hamstring injury and wasn’t at the level he wanted to be. Sterling preferred, instead, to focus on getting his body ready for the new season.
They never, apparently, got around to the question of whether Sterling should make the squad, after his first season at Chelsea produced only nine goals in all competitions.
As England spent their June dispatching Malta and North Macedonia, Sterling spent it racing up hills in a Surrey country park with members of Camberley Judo Club and a Commonwealth Games silver medallist.
The video is incredible to watch. Sterling, arms pumping, accelerates up the steep dusty slope at Lightwater Country Park alongside Fin Allan, who took judo silver in the Birmingham Games last year. In a matter of seconds, Sterling pulls away, Allan scrambling in his dust.
It’s Sterling, again, who later emerges first at the top of the hill with the chasing pack of topless judoka struggling behind.
You suspect they may have enjoyed greater success when they faced Sterling back in the gym on the judo mat. Good practice, mind, for when those lumbering Premier League defenders try to wrestle him to the ground.
Not that Luton’s could even lay a hand on him on Friday night. Sterling scored twice and set up another in Chelsea’s first win under Mauricio Pochettino. His first goal was a thing of beauty, cutting in from the right into the box, past three defenders and into the bottom corner.
All that work over the summer appears to have paid off. It was a flashback to the old Sterling, one we’ve not seen in a while. It’s easy to forget, amid the flurry of Todd
Read on m.allfootballapp.com