Raheem Sterling About To Go Interstellar

Manchester City player Raheem Sterling is about to become a real global sporting superstar.

I am sure there are times during the last few years when Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling must have privately wondered how on earth it has come to this? Vilified in the national press as a “bling king” in a series of articles which helped to build up feelings of anger and hatred towards him.

That hatred had started in the Liverpool leaning press and arisen from the comments of Liverpool legends around the time he decided to leave that club to better his career. And seemed to end in him being booed by fans when he played and blamed as the pantomime villain of various poor England displays.

Everything seemed to change when he publicly questioned the motives of the press and highlighted their behaviour as racist, prompting some introspection within the sport and which when coupled with his performance upsurge on the pitch, served to elevate him towards star player status.

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Sterling has been at the centre of things for club and country and given his strong moral stance he is beginning to appeal to a whole range of big businesses in a way which few football players ever do.

From a humble background, he has risen to where he is now as a result of his own commitment and dedication. As a young man with a clearly developed moral code he is not frightened to speak up on things which have troubled him.

He comes across as refreshingly open and honest despite the position he now occupies in society and it is no surprise businesses are looking to cement sponsorship arrangements with him to get him to endorse various products.

Quite simply he has reached a position where people and products want to be associated with him because they know he taps into an authentic and cool zeitgeist which is full of commercial opportunities.

Sterling is valued at over £200 million according to the CIES observatory as a footballer and is handsomely paid by City. Last year he signed a new contract with the club and there is already talk of a further contract being agreed this season to reflect the continued progress he has made and to ward off potential suitors.

That has so far seen him leap into the 2019 Sunday Times Rich list and of all the footballers currently playing he seems the one most likely to reach the heights of success currently enjoyed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Sterling has today achieved over 6 million followers on Instagram and is growing rapidly as his profile further expands.

Big business is circling, looking to sign up those lucrative endorsements and it is predicted he will be the first English footballer to reach these levels since David Beckham.

Nike and Puma have both made offers to Sterling to promote products, design ranges and become the face of their brand. These deals alone would eclipse the wages he currently receives for playing football!

In addition a whole host of second tier partnerships are in negotiation and the first of these with Gillette was announced yesterday.

So Sterling stands in a unique position in world football, about to be catapulted by commercial sponsorship deals into the stratosphere. Let us hope none of this appears as a distraction to his excellent football but continues to motivate him to do more and more on the pitch.