Decline and fall: who will believe in Raheem Sterling now?

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Photograph: Allstar/Alamy“Raheem was much tougher mentally than some people might have imagined,” Steven Gerrard wrote in his book, My Story, admitting that he and Jamie Carragher did not go easy on him in training.Sterling’s resilience was tested when he rejected a £100,000-a-week contract and became engulfed in a public storm. He’s a nice guy, shy – quite bashful.”In some quarters, there has been a degree of glee in the way Sterling’s career declined sharply after he joined Chelsea.

In a particularly brutal week, two days before the start of the 2024-25 season, Maresca told Sterling he was not part of his plans and left him out of the squad for the game against Manchester City and a Conference League tie with Servette in which Pedro Neto wore his No 7 shirt. The Guardian was told he was known to turn up late for training when he was supposed to set an example, though sources close to Sterling say he never faced a recorded disciplinary at Chelsea.

He scored once, in a Carabao Cup game against League One club Bolton on 25 September 2024, his most recent professional goal.When he returned, sources say he was told to stay away from the main facilities at Cobham, though a Chelsea source denied this was the case. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PAStanding in the dock in court dressed in black last month, while Liverpool were preparing for a League Cup game against Tottenham, Sterling learned he faces the real prospect of prison when the court reconvenes in November.“Before he was Raheem Sterling the international footballer, the Premier League player and the name everybody knew, he was simply a young boy with a football who somebody had to believe in,” Anderson says.Will anyone still believe in him now?