Raheem Sterling pleads guilty at Basingstoke and faces November sentencing as career stalls
Raheem Sterling, the former England winger, pleaded guilty at Basingstoke magistrates court to dangerous driving and possession of nitrous oxide and faces sentencing when the court reconvenes in November, his career described by sources as collapsing and he is currently without a club. The Guardian reported the developments on 3 October 2026.
Sterling’s rise began in Queens Park Rangers’ academy and saw him reach Liverpool’s first team at 17, a trajectory Liverpool youth scout Mark Anderson recalled when he said, “Raheem was confident.” Steven Gerrard wrote in My Story that “Raheem was much tougher mentally than some people might have imagined,” and public attention intensified after Sterling rejected a £100,000-a-week contract, gave a BBC interview denying he was a “money-grabbing 20-year-old”, and was then sold to Manchester City for an initial £44m.
At Manchester City Sterling produced peak club form: he was part of the 2019 domestic treble, scored two goals in the FA Cup final, converted the winning penalty in the League Cup final shootout and earned the Football Writers’ Association’s footballer of the year award. His seasonal returns included 23 goals and 14 assists in 2017-18, 25 and 16 in 2018-19, and 31 and 10 in 2019-20; by 2021 he had twice finished in the top 15 of Ballon d’Or voting and his performances for England in Euro 2020 included two winning goals in the group stage, the opener against Germany in the last 16 and winning the penalty that led to the decisive goal against Denmark in the semi-final. Xavi Hernández said Sterling was “winning [the] race” to replace Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sterling’s anti-racism work included a 2020 video in which he declared “I will never tire of being black” and he subsequently received an MBE.
Chelsea made Sterling their priority signing under Thomas Tuchel, who told Todd Boehly to pursue him, and he joined on a five-year contract worth £325,000 a week; Tuchel was sacked seven weeks later. Sterling then worked under Graham Potter, Frank Lampard, Mauricio Pochettino and Enzo Maresca, and his goal and assist output declined from the levels he posted at City.
Sources described a decision in summer 2024 to sell Sterling as based on concerns over his personal life and his suitability for the team; two days before the start of the 2024-25 season Maresca told Sterling he was not part of his plans and left him out of the squad for the game against Manchester City and a Conference League tie with Servette in which Pedro Neto wore his No 7 shirt. Sterling was subsequently made to train away from the first team, a situation the Guardian was told was linked to punctuality issues though sources close to Sterling said he never faced a recorded disciplinary at Chelsea.
Chelsea sanctioned a loan to Arsenal where Sterling scored once in a Carabao Cup game against Bolton on 25 September 2024, his most recent professional goal; upon return he was, sources say, told to stay away from the main facilities at Cobham, a claim a Chelsea source denied. Sterling declined loan interest from Juventus, and by January the club agreed to buy him out of the remaining 18 months of his contract at a reduced fee; Chelsea’s statement announcing his departure was 23 words long. He then moved to Feyenoord under Robin van Persie, an experience the Guardian described as disastrous and one that led to public mockery.
Anonymous contacts portrayed Sterling’s situation from different angles: one called him a “lost soul”; another said he had been “hopelessly misguided”; a source who worked closely with him described him as “polite and charming” and “shy – quite bashful.” One anonymous voice compared Sterling’s trajectory with Michael Owen’s, noting both were teen prodigies whose speed was a defining asset, and the article records Sterling will be 32 in December.
After returning from the Netherlands, the Guardian reports Sterling drove his Lamborghini for more than an hour on motorways during rush hour while inhaling nitrous oxide from balloons and admitted to officers when arrested in May that he had a “problem” with nitrous oxide. Thomas Tuchel said: “It’s sad to see that someone struggles, because he was a devoted father for his children and he was a family guy, a nice guy to be around. It just seems that he goes through a difficult period. I’m not sure how much is his fault; sometimes you just enter a strange spiral in your life, a downward spiral. Thoughts are with him of course. The belief is always that he can turn it around.”
Sterling stood in the dock last month as Liverpool prepared for a League Cup game against Tottenham and now faces the prospect of prison when his case returns to court in November.