There have been times over the past six years when Gareth Southgate has borrowed ideas from the brightest minds in the Premier League to progress the England team. Starting Raheem Sterling as a wingback at the World Cup in Qatar this winter will surely not be one of them.
Sterling was undoubtedly England’s player of the tournament at the European Championship last year in his natural position on the left side of the attack, despite experiencing a challenging run-up during which he scored once in 16 intermittent appearances for Manchester City.
A £45 million move to Chelsea in July, the marquee summer signing for the club’s new American owners, improved that record: Sterling vowed to be “banging them goals in” at Stamford Bridge and had
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