Rooney compares Reds winger to Gunners great.England captain Wayne Rooney has heaped praise on his international colleague Raheem Sterling, saying he reminds him of former Arsenal star Marc Overmars, the Guardian reports.
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Sterling, 19, is widely regarded as one of the most exciting young talents in Europe at the moment, having enjoyed a superb season for Liverpool last year before impressing for England at the World Cup this summer.
Although the national side have performed poorly of late, the Reds starlet’s performances have given the country some hope of a brighter future, and Manchester United striker Rooney shares the enthusiasm about this particular youngster.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s Euro 2016 qualifying match away to Switzerland, Rooney has described Sterling’s potential as “incredible”, and says he has shown him videos of Overmars playing, as he feels the two are similar players.
“He’s quite an unusual player, someone who can play right across the front line and out wide,” Rooney explained. “Although he’s a small lad he’s really strong as well.
“I sat down with him before the World Cup and showed him videos of Marc Overmars. He reminds me of him.
“He’s a young lad, but the potential he has shown is incredible. In fact, he has the potential to be as good as Overmars. A fantastic player – you saw that last season and again, already, at the start of this one. He’ll be a massive player for us for the next 10-15 years and, unfortunately, also for Liverpool.”
A pacey goalscoring winger, Overmars made quite an impression in just three seasons with Arsenal, helping them to the double in his first year at the club before earning himself a big-money move to Barcelona later on.
Now a director of football at Ajax, Overmars was also a star for the Dutch national team, winning 86 caps for his country and scoring 17 goals.
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