Is England Coach, Gareth Southgate grooming Raheem Sterling for Captaincy?

England and Manchester City star, Raheem Sterling has proved his worth not only in the Premier League but also in the national team winning the heart of the fan and that of his coach in an equal measure.

The Manchester City winger scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 win over the Czechs on Friday and Gareth Southgate later revealed the 24-year-old had been added to a strong ‘leadership group’ within the England squad, set up by the manager before the World Cup last summer.

“When we started working with the team, I felt there was a lot of burden on one captain and you need other people to take the lead in different moments,” Southgate told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Raheem’s development as a person over the last year or so made him an absolute ideal person to come into that group. He is behind Jordan Henderson as our most capped player, so it’s a no brainer really to involve him.

“Anyone in that leadership group would be in there because we view whether they could captain the team. In our recent fixtures the rest of that group have all done it. So he immediately becomes a candidate in that group”.

Ex-England striker Darren Bent also spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live about Raheem Sterling, who scored a hat-trick in the 5-0 win over the Czech Republic on Friday.

“Raheem has been playing well for two years but there was a vendetta against him going into the World Cup,” said Bent. “There was kind of a witch-hunt but now we’re seeing the best of him and you have to give credit to Pep Guardiola. Raheem and Harry Kane are England’s best players. Raheem is scoring, assisting and playing with freedom.”

Sterling received a standing ovation from the Wembley crowd as he was replaced by debutant Callum Hudson-Odoi.

“Hudson-Odoi is doing really well and I’ve been campaigning for him to get more starts in the Premier League as in the Europa League you can see how much he excites the Chelsea crowd,” added Bent. “Bayern wanted him badly. Now it’s about getting the opportunities in the Premier League and hopefully he will do well tonight.”

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