SOCCER - A.Klagenfurt vs Southampton, test match KLAGENFURT,AUSTRIA,18.JUL.22 - SOCCER - ADMIRAL Bundesliga, Premier League, SK Austria Klagenfurt vs FC Southampton, test match. Image shows a ball. PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxAUTxSUIxSWE GEPAxpictures/xFlorianxMori

The English media has been notoriously accused of hyping its players – youngsters to be precise.

Fans of the game believe the media make them seem like more than they really are and some think the media hype is one of the reasons some of these young players fail to succeed due to the distraction such exposure could bring.

The fact of the matter is, when a player of any nationality is coming up the youth ranks and has loads of talent, the media of that country tends to give such players praise.

It’s a normal occurrence everywhere but apparently not in England. Give a player credit and he’s overhyped, do the opposite and he’s underrated. But that’s the name of the game.

At 17 Raheem Sterling was already playing in the Liverpool first team, slowly making a name for himself. He was also touted as one of the next great English players.

Now he is 23 and it seems like he has lived up to all that hype already or maybe perhaps not because the rest of the world hasn’t given him the respect he deserves yet.

In his first two seasons with Manchester City, he was labelled as ‘inconsistent’ and a ‘bad finisher’. Two years on, he has won two titles and has been pivotal in both title wins. He was also knocking them goals in with great regularity.

In a team that has so much quality on the wings, sterling is almost never out of the side. He has been such a consistent performer for Pep Guardiola’s team that he now is virtually undroppable.

Last season, he had his best season yet. He scored 25 goals and had 18 assists and helped his team to an unprecedented domestic treble.

Yet it was not enough to get any form of recognition anywhere.

Fellow England forward Harry Kane was nominated for the award of FIFA Best player despite the fact that he was injured for most of the second half of the season. He wasn’t pivotal in their Champions League run and didn’t win any trophies either.

After the season City had, you would expect that there would have been one player representing the squad which should have been Sterling but unfortunately, he isn’t there yet.

Already this season Sterling has scored five times and has started in world-class form once again as City look to dominate England and hopefully for them Europe.

The world stage is ignoring a great player who after the season he and his team had should have been given the recognition deserved.

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