Southgate: 'I considered dropping Sterling for Nigeria game'
England manager Gareth Southgate has revealed that he considered dropping Raheem Sterling for Saturday's friendly win over Nigeria at Wembley, for the Manchester City man's own good.
Sterling made plenty of headlines this week, first for arriving late to England's training camp, before inciting social media after a controversial tattoo of his came to light.
With the 23-year-old the focus of most of Southgate's appearances in front of the media this week, the England boss has now admitted that he considered leaving the forward out to "protect him".
"Maybe 10 days ago yeah, but I had a good discussion with him because my instinct was to think about the whole team.," Southgate replied when asked if he considered dropping Sterling.
"But after other events came to light, I needed to protect him and want to see him play well today.
"He’s strong and desperate to play football. His attitude to training is brilliant.'