Euro 2016: England manager Roy Hodgson backs £49m Raheem Sterling to prove his worth
Hodgson says he believes in Sterling, despite his poor season for Manchester City
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Your support makes all the difference.Roy Hodgson has backed Raheem Sterling to prove his worth for England at Euro 2016 after insisting that his form slump for Manchester City will not affect his international prospects.
Sterling, a £49m signing from Liverpool last summer, helped create the opening goal for Harry Kane during England’s 2-1 victory against Turkey at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The 21-year-old ended the club season having lost his starting place under Manuel Pellegrini, however, and he faced Turkey with doubts over his contribution ahead of the May 31 deadline for Hodgson to submit his 23-man squad for the Finals.
But having taken a teenage Sterling to the World Cup in Brazil two years ago, Hodgson insists that the winger has nothing to prove to him.
“We probably might have to differ, but I thought he (Sterling) played well against Turkey,” Hodgson said. “My personal feeling was Raheem played well
“I'm taking players who are coming from teams where they are maybe not playing so well or not getting a game, but it's always been the case for me and has been for the last three years.
“If I believe in them, and think they have the qualities we want, we have to try to get those qualities out and play them in the positions where we think they do their best work.”
While Sterling impressed Hodgson on Sunday, Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere also offered reassurance to the manager by playing over an hour of his first international outing for eleven months.
Wilshere missed virtually all of the season with a broken leg, but Hodgson believes he has banished any fitness doubts.
“The sharpness is coming,” Hodgson said. “He certainly didn't show any signs of having any particular physical problems. It was still the Jack Wilshere that I remember.
“What bothered me most about him was 'was he going to be limping around? Was he going to be able to do the running and the movements I associate with him? Because he is, of course, a different type of midfield player to the others.
“I'm rather hoping he is going to be able to join us. We hope that with every training session and every week that goes by he is going to get fitter.
“We also hope to stay in the tournament a little while, so I don't think we should be too worried about him at this point of time in May.
“We should be thinking ahead to the middle or end of June and saying 'could this be a guy who helps us win a match?'
“He's definitely got that ability and I think he showed that in the first half when we had some of our better attacking movements.”
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