Liverpool
legend Jamie Carragher believes Raheem Sterling could be competing for the
Ballon d’Or title over the next four to five years after becoming a consistent
performer for club and country. The England international has started the
current league season in fine form with six goals from five appearances for the
Citizens and he has also excelled for the national team with goalscoring
contributions against Bulgaria and Kosovo.

As a result,
he has been earning plenty of praise from the fans and pundits alike, and
Carragher feels the attacker has the credentials to compete for the prestigious
Ballon d’Or accolade in the future, he told The Telegraph: “I have seen it
written since the midweek internationals Sterling is England’s best player. He
is much more than that.

“I wrote recently he and Sadio Mane are the best left-sided players out there. I now rate Sterling above Neymar. His ambition, alongside Kylian Mbappe, should be to fill the post-Messi and Ronaldo void once they retire. He is a potential Ballon d’Or winner over the next four or five years, the current upward trajectory destined to make Sterling a global superstar.”

A couple of years ago, the England international was the subject of transfer interest from Arsenal, who were keen to pursue him in a straight-swap deal for Alexis Sanchez. The deal did not materialise after Pep Guardiola snubbed the advances and Sterling has since progressed step by step to become one of the Premier League’s best players.

Nonetheless,
he may need to guide the Citizens to a maiden Champions League title before he
comes into serious consideration for the Ballon d’Or. The Citizens have reached
the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in the past two seasons but on
both occasions, they have been ousted from the competition by fellow Premier
League clubs. Liverpool convincingly outclassed them during the 2017/18
campaign. Last season, Tottenham Hotspur edged them on the away goal rule.