(Update: England both Gareth Southgate speaks to reporters on the incident)
Happy international break everybody! Looks like we have a serious row going on to discuss these next couple of weeks. England/Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling is among the best attacking players in the world right now, but his talent and production simply does not excuse wild, aggressive behavior like this.
Sterling will be left out of the England squad that hosts Montenegro on Thursday night, in Euro 2020 qualifying competition, after a serious training ground bust-up with teammate Joe Gomez. The Daily Mail’s Matt Hughes and Sami Mokbel (h/t NBC Sports) report that Sterling tried to grab Gomez by the neck at St George’s Park on Monday.
The English Football Association released a statement indicating that: “as a result of a disturbance in a private team area at St. George’s Park today. He will remain with the squad.”
That’s one way to put it! Sure, you could say it was “a disturbance.”
Sterling was replaced on the squad by his club teammate John Stones, but he remains in contention for the Sunday trip to Kosovo. England hasn’t qualified for the Euros yet, but they’re closing in and will likely get it done without Sterling, but they are going to need him down the line.
The day before the training ground altercation, Sterling was very physical and confrontational against his former club, as City lost to Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield. He got into it with Gomez towards the end of the match, but it appeared that both had moved on from that tension.
Obviously, this was not so, as the conflict carried over from club competition to country cooperation. Since the incident, Raheem Sterling has issued a public statement, via his Instagram account, saying that both he and Gomez have moved past it, and that all is fine and well.
“First and foremost everyone knows what that game means to me!” Sterling wrote.
“Everyone knows that I am not that way inclined and more to the point. Both Joe and I have had words and figured things out and moved on.
“We are in a sport where emotions run high and I am man enough to admit when emotions get the better of me. We move this is why we play this sport because of our love [of] it.
“Me and [Gomez] are good we both understand it was 5-10 second things and it’s done we move forward and not make this bigger than it is.
“Let’s get focus on our game on Thursday.”
Raheem Sterling, the reigning Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association, has scored 12 goals in 55 games for Three Lions.
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