Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards has insisted that Raheem Sterling must be a starter for England at the World Cup despite being “lost” during his first few months at Chelsea.
The former Liverpool wideman completed a switch to Stamford Bridge in the summer having bid farewell to the Etihad Stadium. He has endured a difficult start to life in West London with just five goals from his opening 18 appearances in all competitions.
His form has certainly not been helped by the Blues enduring a four-match winless run in the Premier League - their most recent outing being their 1-0 reverse at the hands of table-topping Arsenal.
Sterling once again struggled to have an impact with his form having taken a nose-dive at the worst possible time with less than two weeks until the World Cup in Qatar.
Despite recognising the 27-year-old’s slump as a Chelsea player, Richards has suggested that he should still be starting for England having sparkled at the Euros as Gareth Southgate ’s men reached the final against Italy.
Speaking on Match of the Day 2, he said: "I still rate Raheem very highly but he looks a little lost. It's like he is a bit frustrated in terms of Chelsea's set-up and, tactically, does not know what they want him to do."
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In evaluating his England chances, Richards continued: “You want your players to be in form, of course, but I think Gareth will stick with him this time too, and I can understand why after what he has done for him in the past.
"All season he has not been playing great but at least he is playing a lot, which is what he wanted when he left City.
"I would start him against Iran too, as part of a front three with Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane. He deserves that faith, after what he has done for England in the past. Let's see how he does in the first game, and assess it after that. If he does nothing, then it might be time to rotate.
"But we have seen before how Raheem has responded after basically being written off for England, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him remind everyone just how good he is."
England boss Gareth Southgate is set to name his Three Lions’ squad for the upcoming tournament on Thursday afternoon with Sterling looking a certainty to be included.
Qatar would represent the fifth major international tournament of his career having travelled to both Brazil and Russia in 2014 and 2018 respectively, whilst the Chelsea man was also named in each of the last two Euros squads.
