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Both Leon Bailey and Raheem Sterling are Jamaican footballers recognised on the world scene.

Bailey plays for Jamaica, Sterling played for England for years but now finds himself no longer wanted by that national team.

The 2025/2026 season was a notable year for both players. Leon Bailey was seen as a player important to Jamaica’s chances of making it to the World Cup to be held in the United States.

He was beset by injuries, spent a loan period at  Roma but returned to Aston Villa where he played well.  Under Unai Emery, Aston Villa has qualified for the Champions League next season as well as winning the Europa League. Aston Villa are covered in glory and Leon Bailey was part of all that.

The cherry on the cake would have been if Jamaica qualified for the World Cup. It would no doubt be one of the best seasons of his career.

Many football analysts rate Bailey and what he brings. He is regarded as an effective winger who can also play up front if needs require.

At 28, the future looks bright for Bailey and if he can return to peak fitness he will be a force at Aston Villa next season. He has  credited Unai Emery for improving his game and has rated him as the best manager he has had to date. He has said he feels settled at Aston Villa and is enjoying his time in Birmingham.

With his experience playing in top their football and featuring in the Champions League next season, this benefits the Jamaican national squad. He  must be a part of their efforts to make it to World Cup 2030 and by then he will be around the same age that Raheem Sterling is now.

His father Craig Butler has done a great job with Bailey who is a pleasant young man. Bailey distinguished himself at both Genk and Bayer Leverkusen and has gone on to play for top clubs. He has returned from a loan spell at Italian club Roma.

He was brought to Aston Villa by Dean Smith in 2021 who spoke highly of his abilities. Baily has repaid that faith. The task for him is to be a regular fixture in the team and to get as much game time as possible so that coveted eyes are placed upon him by the top teams in Europe.

It’s quite a different story with Raheem Sterling who is now 31.  Once a name that regularly featured on the England team sheet for many years, he last played for the national team in 2022. He will not be playing for England in this year’s World Cup.  He was not selected for the qualifying rounds. 

Sterling was a phenom  at Liverpool before he joined Manchester City  in 2015 for 49 million pounds. Under the management of Pep Guardiola, he was covered in glory. He was a devastating winger, tearing teams apart week in, week out.Defenders couldn’t handle his pace and dribbling skills and he had a way of arriving in the box at just the right time. 

Anxious to refresh his squad, Guardiola told him he was surplus to requirements and so he joined Chelsea for 47.5 million pounds in 2022, with then manager Thomas Tuchel seeing him as a major part of a team challenging on all fronts.

Under the Todd Boehly corporate ownership structure at Chelsea, Sterling saw four managers come and go. Enzo Maressca didn’t fancy him and had Sterling training with the kids with no chance of making the first team . On 325,000 pounds a week, he was sat at home twiddling his thumbs and not playing competitive football, with a vital period of his career going to waste. He went on loan to Arsenal in May 2025, and  Mikel Arteta wasn’t that impressed with him favouring the likes of Saka, Trossard, Martinelli and Havertz.

Sterling has endured rejection from some of the EPL’s top managers over the last four years. That must have hurt his pride and dented his faith in his abilities. Some say he has lost a yard or two in pace and that his football IQ is not what it once was.

He has to prove his critics wrong and knuckle down and bounce back. He can’t expect to be picking up 300 000 pound a week cheques and will now have to settle for far less. The aim is to prove he is still a fabulous player who brings a lot to any of the top clubs.

Sterling won 13 major trophies and has 82 caps for England. That counts for something.

He is in the last phase of his career and must make hay while the sun shines. 

Dutch team Feyenoord where the former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie serves as Head Coach saw something in Sterling with van Persie regarding him as a key additional to the Eredivisie team. Sterling has struggled at Feyenoord and  that may be due to a lack of match fitness. The question is how long will van Persie keep faith with him? Can Sterling come good next season and turn around his poor form?

Sterling was brilliant at the World Cup held in Russia in 2018, where England got to the semi-final. He was arguably England’s most important player at Euro 2021 and played an instrumental role in getting the team into the final . He played every match during that tournament. He featured at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, the last time he has played for England. 

Gareth Southgate has made England a major force in world football, seeing to it that the Three Lions are always in the closing stages of big tournaments. Raheem Sterling has played a major role in that and Southgate believed in him, lauded his contributions to the national side.

It is all the more unsettling to see the boy from Marverley  with precoucious football  talent drop off and fall out of the reckoning. He should be at the peak of his powers now but instead he is languishing in the doldrums.

Going to Feyennord and working with van Persie was a good move. It was advisable to get out of England for a while and prove that he can still perform at a high level. Just look  at what Marcus Rashford  has done at Barcelona and how his performances have been noted. 

Last week news came that compounded Sterling’s woes. Now out of contract at Feyenoord,  Sterling who made 396 EPL appearances was arrested for dangerous driving allegedly under the influence of drugs . He was found in possession of a Class C drug. His Lamborghini was seen recklessly swerving on the M3 in Hampshire before crashing into a barrier close to the Minley Interchange. Someone could have been seriously hurt due to his inability to control his vehicle. He failed to give a specimen sample and was bailed pending enquires.

This will hurt his career and Sterling has met disapproval with this latest incident. Footballers on drugs are frowned upon and he needs to come forward with an explanation. He appears to be on a downward spiral and unable to fulfil both his promise and potential. 

A friend close to him told a British newspaper, “The psychological strain that has been put on him is immeasurable. He is isolated. The second he touches a ball, being told he is a flop and he’s finished. Mocked. Heckled.

“He moved to the Netherlands to escape and rediscover his love for the game but the negativity followed. It’s  been an extremely tough couple of years for him and this incident encompasses that.”

Raheem Sterling has to get a grip and fast. Craig Butler has insight into what makes a good footballer and how to go about being professional. It would be interesting to hear his thoughts on the situation Sterling finds himself in. Perhaps Raheem should seek Craig Butler’s counsel in coming out of the abyss he now finds himself in. 

A radical move Sterling could make is to switch his allegiance to the country of his birth and help Jamaica make it to the next World Cup. His experience will be invaluable and he can play a leadership role on the team before transitioning to become part of the management set up. It seems unlikely that he will make it back into the England team so why not pursue another avenue? Why not create a rewarding legacy with Jamaica and get the team to the top of the heap in the CONCACAF region?