TATT’S LIFE
Sterling admits he understands outcry over machine-gun tattoo and insists it won’t affect his World Cup form
RAHEEM STERLING admits he can understand the furore over his machine-gun tattoo.
Sterling was criticised by anti-gun campaigners after the pictures (left) emerged, but the England star insists it will only make him stronger for the World Cup.
The Manchester City forward said: “I can see, most definitely, where they’re coming from. You see a gun on someone’s leg, you are going to automatically think: ‘What the hell are you
doing?’ But I’ve had the tattoo since August or September and there have been pictures of it before but it is only being reported now.”
Sterling has insisted the tattoo is not finished and will have a deeper meaning because his father was shot dead when he was just two years old.
But the England front-man has denied there is an agenda against him in the build-up to the World Cup and claims his tough upbringing has prepared him to deal with everything thrown at him.
Sterling, the target of Kop hate when he said he wanted to leave Liverpool before his move to City, added: “I don’t feel there’s an agenda against me. It’s World Cup time and news is news.
“I’m just focusing on my training sessions and doing well for England.
“The boys have seen I haven’t been affected by it. They know I’m fine. If they did see something wrong they would be the first to come to me.
“Me and my mum and my agent sometimes talk, about the kind of thing that happened the other day. People expect me to be really affected by it but I’ve been through harder stuff in my life so that is the least of my worries.”
And the man who has emerged as key to England’s hopes in Russia this summer has told boss Gareth Southgate that he can easily shrug aside off-the-pitch problems.
“I’ve got a massive opportunity here with a great bunch of players, to represent England at a World Cup. That’s my focus now,” he said.
“And that tattoo? It’s going to be spoken about for one day, two days, that’s all. Football is the most important thing now. I’ll just keep training and we’ll see what happens.”