Raheem Sterling is flying home to be with his family following a break-in and there are no guarantees he will be available for England’s World Cup quarter-final on Saturday, according to Gareth Southgate.
Sterling was absent from the Three Lions’ team who beat Senegal 3-0 on Sunday night to book a tie against defending champions France. The Chelsea attacker trained with the squad as normal in the run-up to the match in Qatar, but was then left out for “family reasons”.
It later emerged that his absence was due to a break-in at his family home in Surrey by armed robbers, which occurred on Saturday evening.
It is understood Sterling was concerned for the welfare of his children and made that his priority, even though he is hugely committed to England’s World Cup campaign. His family were at home when it happened and have been deeply shaken by it, but the option to fly back has been left open.
Southgate says it is unclear when, or if, he will return to Qatar. "We will have to wait and see,” he told ITV after England’s win over Senegal. “At the moment, clearly the priority is for him to be with his family and we’re going to support that.
"We’re going to allow him to have as much time as he needs. He’s going home, yeah. I really don’t know because at the moment it’s a situation that he needs time with his family to deal with and I don’t want to put him under any pressure.
"Sometimes football isn’t the most important thing and family should come first."
After a shaky start, England progressed to the quarter-finals thanks to goals from Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka. They have now kept three clean sheets in succession at the tournament, but face a tough challenge against France in their next game at 7pm on Saturday night.
Before kick-off, Southgate revealed Sterling’s decision to miss an England match in the knock-out stages of a major tournament for the first time since 2012 had been taken on Sunday morning. He said: "He is dealing with a family matter, I had quite a bit of time with him this morning but now I have had to pass him on to other people to help him with that.
"He is going to have to deal with that matter and then we will take it from there."
Sterling is a key player for England, having scored 20 goals in 81 appearances since his debut in 2012. The Chelsea forward scored and assisted in the Three Lions’ 6-2 demolition of Iran in their opening game and started the following match, a 0-0 draw with the USA.
He was rested for the final Group B game, a 3-0 win over Wales, but was expected to come back into the side to face Senegal. Phil Foden played in his absence and assisted both Kane and Saka’s goals with neat passes.
