Sterling’s back in to make mark

Gomez in the canteen at St George’s Park less than 24 hours after the duo had clashed during City’s 3-1 Anfield defeat by the league leaders.

That led to Southgate dropping Sterling for the 7-0 win over Montenegro as England qualified for the finals.

Now he’s back – and Southgate insists the attacker, 25 next month, is too valuable to axe permanently.

“He’s an essential player for us,

100 per cent. He’s one of the best players in Europe,” said Southgate. “I’m delighted for him because he now knows that he’s going to get the chance to play in a European Championship where he can be one of the star players.”

Southgate spoke to City y boss Pep Guardiola (right) and Liverpool ol coach Jurgen Klopp p in the aftermath of the incident at St George’s Park to give both club managers the full picture of events.

And in the call to o Guardiola he explained ned why he axed Sterling for the game against Montenegro. Southgate now considers the matter closed – and says the City star is raring to go against Kosovo.

“I spoke to Raheem before we flew to Kosovo and he’s good. He’s looking forward to the game,” said Southgate, who will start Sterling today but be without the injured Gomez.

“If anything, it will just strengthen the bond of the players. That’s the team, they’re going through lots of different experiences with the racism in Bulgaria and with Montenegro that are only bringing them closer together as a group.

“We know we’ve been through enough already, that the bonds are tight with the whole team. We just have to ignore everything else and make sure the team stay tight, keep improving and we develop everybody as strong as we possibly can.”