Sterling: 'Critics have made me bulletproof'

The Manchester City forward said: ''If anything comes in my path now I'm much more able to deal with it. Yeah, [I'm] bulletproof.''  However, the one person that he happily takes advice from is his mother, Nadine.

He said: ''If it wasn't for my mum there's been numerous times I could have gone down the wrong path, but with someone as strong as my mum there was no chance I would have been able to go down that road.''

''[She worries about] everything. I left the house Sunday and she's calling me Sunday night saying she's already missing me and I'm like: 'Mum, come on, it's been a couple of hours now.''

''She gives me feedback after the game. She won't give me out of ten, she'll just tell me what she thinks I needed to do more or if I had a chance to shoot or a clear goal-scoring opportunity she'll let me know.''

The 23-year-old added: ''Her main one is get in the box. I think that's probably one of my biggest things she's helped me get in the box a lot more because I was tired of hearing it, to be honest.''