Sterling’s maturity has made him future captain material

Manager hails forward’s leadership attributes Membership of senior player group is deserved

Such are Raheem Sterling’s leadership qualities, Gareth Southgate would have no hesitation in making him England captain.

“He has those qualities,” Southgate said before adding in that welljudged, wonderfully disarming way of his, a way that has made such a difference to the perception of England: “It’s difficult to talk about a potential captain when the captain is in the hotel waiting to go for dinner, but in terms of his personal qualities, he’s shown some outstanding personal qualities.”

The captain, Harry Kane, was, like the rest of the squad, waiting back in the team hotel here before the Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro.

As significant as Sterling’s outstanding form has been, something else the forward has developed that prompted Southgate to promote him to the “leadership group” of senior players with whom he regularly consults – maturity.

At last year’s World Cup, the group was Kane, Jordan Henderson, Eric Dier, Fabian Delph and Ashley Young.

“Youngy dropped out, so Sterling came in,” Southgate said. “In between November and March, observing his maturity and influence, I felt that would be a good step for him. I think when you speak to other young players, he’s one of the first they speak about making them feel really comfortable in the environment. That was a really important move for him.”

That statement has been corroborated by the likes of the teenagers Jadon Sancho and Callum Hudsonodoi who may, effectively, be vying for Sterling’s position but who have

both paid testimony to his willingness to encourage and help them.

Not that Sterling’s position is under threat. Along with Kane, the 24-year-old has developed into a world-class player. Henderson, a former club-mate and still a firm friend, agreed that his acrimonious move from Liverpool was nevertheless “very brave”.

“He wants to play at the top. He wants to improve, be the best player in the world,” Henderson said. “That will be one of his aims in the future. For me, he’s going in the right direction. We all know how good a player he is, and he has the right mentality to keep wanting more and stay hungry.

“We knew he had something special at Liverpool. You could see how good he was, he had the right mentality. He’s a great lad as well, a great character to have in the team. I feel as though he’s more of a leader now in the England team.”

That development has acceler- ated under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and with Sterling scoring his first England hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of the Czech Republic at Wembley on Friday, he is transferring that form on to the international stage. His finishing has vastly improved; he is much more of a clinical threat.

It is five goals in three games for Sterling and there is a sense that the unerring way he took his brace in the brilliant 3-2 Uefa Nations League victory away to Spain in Seville was a breakthrough moment.

He, maybe even more than Kane a marked man these days, could be the one England look to against Montenegro in what promises to be the most hostile environment of Southgate’s 33 games in charge.

There is also a theory that Sterling has been helped by Southgate’s shift in formation from the World Cup – after which the manager abandoned the more contained 3-5-2, with Sterling as a central striker, and restored him out wide in a more attacking 4-3-3.

“I’ve heard that [theory],” Southgate said. “He had 30-odd internationals before [scoring] playing on the wing, so I don’t think it was just about the formation, though the types of chances you get as a central striker can be different to those he receives now.

“For me, the biggest thing is he’s in such a confident mood, he’s finishing without thinking. He’s in flow, and that’s a great place to be – you want to play without thinking. The goals in Seville were about just hitting things, and a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. It was the missing piece. Now he’s added that, people have recognised the other qualities even more. His movement, the problems he caused other teams. They would say after the game that Sterling caused them so many problems, but as a forward you’re judged on numbers. Now he’s adding those numbers.”

Sterling is certainly doing that and is also, along with Kane, an important figure in this youthful England set-up. “There are links with Sterling having been with Henderson at Liverpool, [Kyle] Walker having been with the Spurs players, lots playing junior football together, the south London posse, the Under-21s,” Southgate said when asked about the strong camaraderie that has helped that transition. “It’s important we foster that with the environment we create.”

That is certainly the case with this new England and with Sterling at its vanguard.