RAHEEM STERLING ADMITS that a spell outside of England forms part of his future plans, but the Manchester City winger is not looking to head to Germany as he wants to go somewhere “warm”.
The 24-year-old has spent his entire professional career to date in the Premier League.
Liverpool lured him away from Queens Park Rangers when still in his teens and presented him with the grandest of stages on which to make a senior impact.
Sterling’s efforts with the Reds earned him a £44 million move to City in the summer of 2015 and he has gone on to claim two title successes and domestic cup triumphs with the Blues.
Fresh terms penned in November 2018 have him under contract at the Etihad Stadium until 2023, but there is a chance that he will leave English shores at some stage.
Quizzed by British GQ on whether he can see himself playing aboard, Sterling said: “Looking at it now it’s like, Manchester, I love it. I love it here.
“This is one of the best clubs in the world and I’m here for the long haul. But you just don’t know what happens in the future.
“I’m still young and, like I say, I am loving every minute.
“Ever since I was a kid, 100% it’s always been a dream of mine to play abroad somewhere. It would be nice one day to finish training and go home and sit in your garden and eat some dinner.”
Sterling added that he will be looking to head somewhere warm if the day ever comes to leave City, saying: “I would need to see where it’s minimum 17C or 18C constantly.”
It was put to him that Spain would be a logical option, with Germany seemingly ruled out.
Pressed on whether the Bundesliga could be an option, the Jamaica-born winger said: “Not really – the language barrier.
“It sounds very difficult. Spanish sounds like… ‘Hola! Raheem!’ I feel that one I can definitely catch on.
“I hear Leroy [Sane] and Ilkay [Gundogan] talking and sometimes I think they’re having me on. I’m like, ‘You lot are not speaking to each other’. That’s not a language I could do.”
A change of scenery for Sterling is not going to happen any time soon, as he is preparing to chase down more major honours with City in 2019-20, but interest from the likes of Real Madrid has been mooted in the past and a transfer door may swing open further down the line.
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Head-to-head result decides Pool so Australia are through
Best Runner-up will need at least 10 match points + a better overall score difference if tied. NZ/SA both have 10 points in Pool C + score differences more than +60 ahead of Ireland’s [63 and 64 respectively]
So Ireland need NZ/SA to win convincingly and then to out score Italy by enough to make up the 60+ point gap less the NZ/SA points difference. So – if New Zealand beat South Africa by 20 clear points [+ deny them a try scoring bonus point], Ireland would need to beat Italy by 44 points
France v Argentina is also relevant. A French victory means that the best Runner-Up cannot come from Pool A. Both could finish on 11 points though if they get 1 and 5 points respectively from their match. In which case they would both qualify for the knock-out stages if either NZ or SA fail to get a losing point. If Argentina deny France any match points then France will finish with 10 match points and will have lost the game by at least a score difference of 8 so have on overall total of no better than 27. Ireland would have to beat Italy by 40 pointsto have that outcome covered….
@Solon Harrison: Fair play to you
@Solon Harrison:
Would you be willing to do my Taxes :::PLEASE :) :) :) :)
Does anyone know if Ireland can still go further in this competition if they beat Italy ? Are there quarter finals or only semis?
@Jack Hackett: Are chances are slim after yesterday’s result. My understanding of it is that the winners of the three pools, plus the best runner up, all make it through to the next stage-which is the cup semi-final.
Ireland (5pts) are currently 5 match points behind Australia (10pts), plus a hefty score difference (64pts). We would need England to hammer Australia and Ireland to hammer Italy if we were going to top the group at this stage.
Both Argentina (6pts) and New Zealand (10pts) are in better positions to also get the best runner-up spot as things stand too.
@Jack Hackett: Unless it’s changed this year.. There’s usually also playoff games to determine each teams ranking from 5 to 12 with 12th place being relegated. I presume if Ireland finish 2nd in group but don’t reach the semis we’ll be in the 5th/ 6th place playoff. Open to correction though.
@Captain NerbNerb: Hasnt changed. All 12 teams play 5 games and the ranking games determine the pools for next years competition.