Raheem Sterling was so impressive as a 14-year-old he was given a round of applause by the QPR first-team after training with them, talkSPORT has been told.
Sterling was developed by the Hoops’ academy before moving to Liverpool in 2010 for an initial fee of £600,000.
The west London side eventually pocketed close to £10m for the England forward, following his £49m transfer to Manchester City in July 2015.
The 24-year-old has gone on to be a two-time Premier League winner with City and World Cup semi-finalist for the Three Lions.
talkSPORT will broadcast our ‘The Rise of Raheem’ documentary at 9pm on June 4, which looks at Sterling’s journey from his birth and childhood in Jamaica to being one of the world’s best footballers.
His youth coach at QPR, Steve Gallen, recalls in the documentary that Sterling caught the eye when thrown in against grown men at such a young age.
“I had to get him out of school,” Gallen said. “That was one of the things I did: I went to his school and went to see his headmistress and head of year and tried to get him out of school.
“The very first time he came in and trained, we set it up with Paulo Sousa to train with the first team, and that was unbelievable because he trained with all those guys when he was 14 years of age.
LIVE ON talkSPORT
talkSPORT is your home of live football! Here’s what’s coming up on talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2…
- Portugal vs Switzerland (Wednesday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT
- Netherlands vs England (Thursday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT
- France vs South Korea (Friday, 8pm) – talkSPORT
- Denmark vs Republic of Ireland (Friday, 7:45pm) – talkSPORT 2
- Croatia vs Wales (Saturday, 2pm) – talkSPORT
- England vs Scotland (Sunday, 5pm) – talkSPORT
“Fitz Hall was a senior player who played in the Premier League, Rowan Vine had played in the Premier League… these were top players and I just remember they ended up at that training session all giving him a round of applause. Not because he was miles better than them – but they were thinking, ‘hold on he’s 14’.
“I don’t know what the health and safety or safeguarding officer would say these days by putting in a young lad like that, but it was just a well done to him… but also a challenge.
“I wanted him to realise ‘if you stay here at QPR then you can be with these guys pretty soon’.”
Ray Parlour pays tribute to late Spanish football player Jose Antonio Reyes
Sterling did not stay at QPR much longer, however, as Liverpool saw his potential and snapped him up as a 15-year-old.
He went on to debut for the Reds in March 2012 and made a total 129 appearances for the Anfield club before sealing his big-money move to the Etihad four years ago.
Since heading to City, Sterling has won five trophies – including two Premier League titles – and he’s also been named PFA Young Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year for 2018/19.
The Rise of Raheem is LIVE on talkSPORT at 9pm on June 4, featuring contributions from Virgil van Dijk, Pep Guardiola and Steve Gallen. Click here to tune in online, or listen via our radioplayer below…
