Liverpool’s Sterling at centre of scandal again
Raheem Sterling has become embroiled in a fresh controversy after images of the Liverpool forward holding a shisha pipe alongside Reds team-mate and another rising star Jordon Ibe emerged yesterday.
Sterling has already earned the ire of club boss Brendan Rodgers after footage was released on Monday of the 20-year-old appearing to inhale the legal high nitrous oxide and then pass out.
Rodgers made it clear after Monday’s 2-0 win over Newcastle that he expects better from his players and the Antrim man added he would talk to Sterling about the reports concerning his off-field behaviour.
The latest pictures, published in the Daily Mail, show both Sterling and 19-year-old winger Ibe holding shisha pipes and, according to the national newspaper, were taken at a London bar earlier this season.
It is the second time in a matter of days that Sterling has been photographed with a shisha pipe, with a Sunday newspaper also publishing pictures of him allegedly smoking from the instrument.
Liverpool did not wish to comment on the issue when contacted by Press Association Sport last night.
Before these latest images emerged, Bobby Barnes, deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association and European president of the international players’ union FIFPro, urged understanding towards Sterling.
