Sterling has been daft and stitched up by his ‘mates’

Raheem Sterling has been a very silly boy.

It’s inarguable inhaling “hippy crack” and smoking shisha pipes aren’t things professional footballers should be doing. If Raheem didn’t realise that before pictures emerged last week of him doing both, I’m sure he does now. A good, old-fashioned media storm is hard to sleep through, after all.

But while Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has a right to be angry over his young star’s behaviour, I can’t jump aboard the anti-Sterling bandwagon. Because the truth is, I feel SORRY for him.

Plain and simple. I think Raheem has been stitched up here. Whoever sold these photos is clearly one of his so-called mates. That is a betrayal. And when you examine the truth of what “hippy crack” actually is, that name begins to seem completely over the top.

We’re talking about laughing gas here the stuff they give expectant mothers who are giving birth. Like smoking, this stuff isn’t illegal, so, as daft as he has been, Sterling hasn’t broken the law. And while he shouldn’t have got himself involved in the first place, for me, the biggest mitigating factor is this he’s 20 years old!

The question I would ask my readers is: “How many of us did daft things when we were 20?”

The answer, if we’re being honest, would be: “All of us.”

Irrespective of Raheem’s status as a professional athlete, he is going to make mistakes. The only difference is that he will make his publicly. That comes with the territory as a professional footballer, and it’s something his manager will have made plain to him over the last few days. Unfortunately, the lesson may have come too late for Raheem as far as his sought-for move away from Anfield is concerned. When it comes to the really big clubs, the kind of clubs who could afford to buy him from Liverpool, an incident like this won’t go down well at all.

The likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, in particular, just won’t put up with it. The culture is so different in Spain. The 20-year-olds on their books simply don’t behave like Raheem has.

Both clubs will likely look at it and decide that he’s a bad character then they’ll drop their interest. The lad has made a mistake. We all make them.

When we do, however, we won’t all pay such a heavy price.