Is this a big issue, or a load of fuss about nothing?
Raheem Sterling will come under scrutiny again today, but not because of his increasingly tiresome contract saga…
The 20-year-old Liverpool star was the focus of the biggest story in last night’s Mirror, after a SnapChat screenshot emerged of him smoking a shisha pipe – along with the caption ‘1 down another 3 to go’.
The report, (probably hyperbolically…) claims the shisha pipe in question was the equivalent of 200 cigarettes, and while this is extremely speculative, there are undeniably long-term health concerns for its continued use.
The British Heart Foundation website warns: “Like cigarettes it contains nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, such as arsenic and lead.
“As a result, shisha smokers are at risk of the same kinds of diseases as cigarette smokers, such as heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease.”
The attacker has been panned in both mainstream and social media for his rejection of a £100k-per-week contract (such as here by Jamie Carragher for Sky Sports), and this latest debacle is going to the public’s perception of him no good whatsoever.
In short – we’re not quite sure what to make of it. Sterling is a 20-year-old kid, and there’s plenty worse things he could be doing with his wealth. The timing though, is not great, for either him, nor us.
If football fans get on his back even more for this leaked photo, his head’s going to be in an even worse place than it likely already is.
From a purely selfish point of view, this isn’t good for our end of season league and cup aspirations…
