The word “journey” gets bandied about frequently in professional sports. An athlete’s narrative arc demands that the hard yards get put in so the eventual rise to stardom can be balanced against those early years paved with challenges.
It’s a tale as old as time, especially in soccer, but in the case of the 29-year Raheem Sterling, who has represented England on 82 occasions, as well as some of the biggest clubs in the nation, such as Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea, there is more than a modicum of merit to said journey.
Growing up in northwest London, with Wembley Stadium metaphorically – and geographically – in his sights, a young Sterling was scouted by the English capital’s biggest clubs.
But instead of opting for powerhouse Arsenal, his mother persuaded him to go to Queens Park Rangers, a lower league team traditionally living in the shadow of its more illustrious neighbors; for his part, Sterling wrote in The Players’ Tribune in 2018, that going to QPR “was probably the best decision I ever made. At QPR, they didn’t let me slip up.”
But getting to the training ground near Heathrow Airport was not the easiest of endeavors, involving Sterling and his older sister Lakima taking no fewer than three buses across London.
“Three buses: the 18 to the 182 to the 140,” Sterling recalled in his article. “The red double-deckers with the blue wool ’80s vibe on the seats. Spent ages on those. We’d leave at 3:15 and get home at 11 p.m. Every. Single. Day.”
Traveling to the Bridge
Roughly 20 years later, the four-time Premier League winner with Manchester City – to say nothing of six major domestic cups – has made another journey, with his current club Chelsea.
The Blues were back in the United States for a preseason tour, and Sterling reflected on the life soccer has given him in a wide-ranging conversation with CNN Sport’s Don Riddell, opening up about his years in the game, even describing it “like therapy for me.”
“Super grateful,” he tells CNN. “Sometimes you have to pinch yourself and you hear yourself moaning sometimes, or disappointed sometimes, and I always go back to the moments I was a kid in my bedroom and praying to God that one day, hopefully, this could be me. … I’m very fortunate to be living that dream and just continue enjoying it and loving every minute of it.”
Chelsea embarks on the new season with a new manager: Italian Enzo Maresca who replaces Mauricio Pochettino, despite the Argentine overseeing a decent end to the campaign results-wise – only one defeat in Chelsea’s final 15 league matches, including five straight wins to secure European soccer.
Since being signed by Thomas Tuchel in the summer of 2022, Sterling is onto his sixth Chelsea manager – including the one match overseen by caretaker boss Bruno Salter.
Sterling has shown flashes of brilliance during his time at Stamford Bridge and remains capable of transforming any match, but he hopes that stability off the field can go hand in hand with consistent excellence on it.
“It’s been, again, an eventful two years,” Sterling says. “But one that I’m super committed to, that will get the results that I was expecting.
“It’s been an eventful journey, but I do see the vision and I do see us taking our next step and now really challenging for stuff – slowly but surely.”
Huge home opener
The first step is at home this Sunday against four-time defending Premier League champion Manchester City, a club Sterling knows better than most.
The forward scored in the fixture last year, which was arguably the game of the season. The teams drew 4-4 in a pulsating match that had more in keeping with pace of basketball than soccer normally.
Last November, the final goal in the instant classic was converted from the penalty spot by Sterling’s teammate Cole Palmer in added time. The young Englishman was deemed surplus to requirements by Pep Guardiola in 2023, so made the same journey down to London as Sterling. A breakout season for Palmer ensued for both club and country, but how much of himself does Sterling see in Palmer?
“I think he’s a top individual, top person, top player,” Sterling says about the 22-year-old. “The minute I saw him at City, I knew he had all the tools to get to the highest level so for me, it was no real surprise seeing what he’s capable of.
“But I think, knowing him, just stay how he is, be humble, keep working. I think that’s the most important thing in football. I don’t think the work stops and he’s a person I know he’s going to want more and more.”
If it sounds as though Sterling is channeling his inner Guardiola, there might be more to that than meets the eye. When asked if there is one piece of advice to note from any of the illustrious managers he’s had over the last decade, Sterling brings up the City boss.
“I think it was just the messaging of sleep, eat, breathe football,” he recounts Guardiola telling him. “And as you can see from how he is and how successful he’s been, that’s the motto – not just football, any aspect of your life. If you want something and you’re doing it, you gotta be all in and have all your energy and thought process on that.”
On and off the field, Sterling strives to take that guidance seriously. When he wakes up, soccer springs to mind almost immediately: “The first thought normally is getting the kids up, getting them ready for school, and then straight away football.” Repetition in his life – he has had the same breakfast of eggs and toast every day for the past eight years – keeps him focused on the task at hand, but also helps to block out any negative voices and build mental resilience.
Acknowledging to CNN Sport that the British media has written almost excessively about him, Sterling’s able to reflect upon the headlines in a measured manner as he enters the latter end of his career.
“You do get older, and then you do look back on stuff and probably there was stuff that, knowing how the English culture is, maybe it didn’t align with that,” he notes. “So there’s definitely things that I could probably see looking back now, that probably didn’t align with the English culture.”
Sterling continues, softly spoken but with his message coming across loud and clear: “Sometimes, it’s tough, but at the end of the day, we sometimes look at things and think it’s 10 times worse than what it actually is and focus on things that you can’t actually control.
“And I think that the most beautiful thing in football is you’re the one in control. So when you’re on that football field, it’s you that’s in control. So I think that’s definitely something I’ve learned in the later years of my career that, you know, don’t focus on what you can’t control.”
When he does eventually hang up his boots, Sterling says family and soccer will remain close at hand. It seems evident that the Chelsea man has given his next steps some considerable thought.
“I’ve got my boys, so I think my main focus, even now, is getting them as much information as I can with my experiences in life and football, to get them ready for the real world,” Sterling states.
“If I can have some part in football, it will definitely be something along those lines, helping younger individuals to seek their pathway in the game. That’s something that brings me joy.”
“How much do you like being a dad?” he’s asked.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he beams. “It’s like you have an opportunity to shape and mold an individual to have a positive influence on society. I don’t think there’s a better role you can have actually.”
