Today marks a special day for Jamaican–English footballer Raheem Sterling. Today, the Sagittarian is celebrating his 28th birthday.

Sterling may be a bit emotional for this year’s birthday celebration, but, despite it all, he is certainly blessed to be celebrating another year of life.

Sterling was born on December 8 in Kingston, Jamaica. He spent his early years living in Maverley with his family before migrating with his mother, when he was five years old, to London, England.

His mother influenced him greatly throughout his athletic career, encouraging him to take up sports at a young age.

Sterling began his career at the youth team Alpha & Omega before signing for Queens Park Rangers at just age 10.

After being scouted by various academies such as Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal, Liverpool scooped up the youngster in February 2010.

Liverpool paid Queen Park Rangers an astronomical fee of £450,000 for the talented youngster, with the potential of this fee to increase to £2 million based on his performance.

In July 2015, following a lengthy dispute over a new contract, he was signed by Manchester City in a transfer potentially worth £49 million, the highest transfer fee ever paid for an English player at the time.

He went on to help Manchester City win back-to-back Premier League titles in the 2017 –18 and 2018-19 seasons.

Over the years, Sterling has won several awards. In the 2018–19 season, he was named to the PFA Premier League Team of the Year and won the PFA Young Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year.

Sterling currently plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for Premier League club Chelsea and the England national team.

The English player’s birthday celebrations may have been dampened by a reported break-in at his home, while he was in Qatar playing in the current World Cup.

Sterling has since left Qatar and returned to Britain to be with his family. He however indicated today that he would be returning to the England camp.

In light of this news, it’s only fitting that he be celebrated on his special day.

 Here are a few things about Jamaica – born football star Raheem Sterling, courtesy of mancity.com.

• Young gun – by netting for City against Watford, Raheem became the youngest Englishman to score for City in the Premier League since Daniel Sturridge.

• Gazza fan – Raheem’s favourite England player of all-time is Paul Gascoigne. In an interview Sterling said: “I’m too young to remember him actually playing but I’ve seen videos and it’s the way he goes past players like they’re not even there.”

• When opportunity knocks – Kenny Dalglish was only able to include a 16-year-old Sterling in the Liverpool squad for the first time in February 2011 because he was on a half-term break from Rainhill School where he completed his education. This was for a Europa League tie away to Sparta Prague. He made his first-team debut against Wigan in March 2012, coming on as a substitute at 17 years and 107 days to be exact.

• Raheem, the track star? – Sterling would have stayed in sport if he had not made it in football. He shared during an interview that he would have tried for a career in athletics if it hadn’t worked out in the beautiful game of football.

• Food, food and more food – Sterling’s  favourite dishes are spaghetti bolognese, red peas soup and stew chicken with rice and peas.

• Birthday buddies – the star shares a birthday with a few celebrities including Baby Tash, Nicki Minaj and Amir Khan.