Sixteen months. That is the age gap between Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. It is not much, yet it now feels like a chasm. Kane is England's captain, broke his own personal goal-scoring high with 73 last season, and shows no sign of slowing. Sterling, meanwhile, is without a club and awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty at Basingstoke magistrates court to dangerous driving and possession of nitrous oxide — an incident that witnesses reportedly feared could have killed someone.

How two careers, both rooted in English football at roughly the same moment, have diverged so completely is one of the more uncomfortable questions the game has had to sit with this autumn.

The scale of what was lost

To appreciate the fall, you need to hold the rise in mind. Sterling grew up in Stonebridge, helping his mother with cleaning jobs before catching the eye of Liverpool youth scout Mark Anderson at Queens Park Rangers' academy. Anderson told The Guardian he thought Sterling had "the ingredients to become an international prospect" from the first time he saw him. Liverpool signed him as one of the most expensive 15-year-olds of the era, and by 17 he was in their first team — small in frame but, by multiple accounts, unusually tough physically. Steven Gerrard noted in his autobiography that neither he nor Jamie Carragher went easy on the teenager in training, and Sterling held his own.

By the time he moved to Manchester City for an initial £44m in the summer of 2015, the public mood had already begun to sooner. His rejection of a reported £100,000-a-week contract at Liverpool had reframed him, fairly or not, as a difficult character rather than a driven professional. His agent's comments — that Sterling would not sign even close to a £1m-per-week deal — made things considerably worse. Then came Euro 2016, where he was made the scapegoat for England's last-16 exit to Iceland, the abuse eventually prompting him to post #TheHatedOne on Instagram. He was 21 years old.

Peak, then drift

In 2019 he was unquestionably one of the best wingers in Europe. A domestic treble with City, two goals in an FA Cup final, the winning penalty in a League Cup final shootout. When Thomas Tuchel made him the priority signing after the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover at Chelsea, it felt like a redemption narrative taking shape. Instead, Chelsea became another chapter in an unravelling story. Sterling eventually left Stamford Bridge without establishing himself and has been unable to find a new club since.

Multiple sources quoted in reporting by The Guardian — all speaking anonymously to protect existing relationships — describe Sterling in terms that are difficult to read. One calls him a "lost soul". Another suggests he has been "hopelessly misguided" in both life and career decisions. Neither characterisation fits the player who once seemed perfectly calibrated for sustained success at the highest level.

What happens next

Sentencing is due next month. The market, understandably, is not rushing to price Sterling into a new contract at any significant club. He is 31 — an age at which plenty of wide forwards are still operating at a high level — but the off-pitch circumstances make that conversation almost beside the point right now.

The sadder detail, perhaps, is that Sterling himself was not an inevitable casualty of the system. He had the talent, the physical resilience and, early on, the mentality. What went wrong is harder to reduce to a single cause, which is exactly why the story refuses to sit tidily.

Kane and Sterling. Sixteen months apart, worlds away.

FAQs

Frequently asked

Why is Raheem Sterling in court?
Sterling pleaded guilty at Basingstoke magistrates court to dangerous driving and possession of nitrous oxide following an incident that witnesses reportedly feared could have been fatal. He is awaiting sentencing, due next month.
What clubs has Raheem Sterling played for?
Sterling came through the QPR academy before joining Liverpool, where he made his senior debut at 17. He then moved to Manchester City for an initial £44m in 2015, winning multiple Premier League titles, before joining Chelsea after the Todd Boehly-led takeover. He is currently without a club.
Will Raheem Sterling play for England again?
Sterling is not in the current England squad and, given he is without a club and facing a potential prison sentence, a return to international football looks extremely unlikely at this stage.