Raheem Sterling vs Brendan Rodgers: Bust-up in Liverpool training in 2012 remembered | OneFootball

Liverpool appointed Brendan Rodgers as their manager in June 2012.

The Reds flew to North America for their pre-season tour just over a month later.

At the time, Liverpool had one of the most exciting youngsters in England in their ranks: Raheem Sterling.

Sterling, just 17 years old, made three appearances for Liverpool in the 2011/12 campaign and joined the squad in their tour of North America.

It was during their trip that the youngster had an infamous bust-up with Rodgers during training.

Rodgers wasn’t afraid to call Sterling out in front of the whole team.

Footage of the moment appeared on the Fox documentary ‘Being: Liverpool’. You can view it below…

Rodgers got the squad together and said: “This is for the young players and I need you to pay attention. Your attitude needs to improve in your work, OK? You (Sterling) say ‘steady’ to me again when I say something to you and you’ll be on the first plane back.”

Sterling responded: “I didn’t say steady, I said…”

Rodgers interrupted, adding: “You know what you said, I know what you said. You’ll be on the first plane back.”

Rodgers then pulls Sterling aside and gives him another talking to.

Brad Jones was present during the heated exchange. He spoke about the incident in an interview with the Liverpool Echo in April.

“What you saw on the show was what you got. There were little bits off camera. I remember the thing with Raheem.

“It’s funny, I was just behind him and I think Brendan was testing him. He’d done it to a few people. Give them a little prod just to see how people react. Raheem was a kid at the time and a lot was on his shoulders for what people expected.

“I just remember that moment happening and I grabbed Raheem literally just after he said it and I said to him, ‘He’s testing you. Don’t bite back. Just show him, you don’t have to do anything else.’ He was such a good kid.”

Sterling emerged into a key player under Rodgers in the 2012/13 season. He played 126 times under Rodgers, scoring 23 goals, before departing in a controversial £49m move to Manchester City in 2015.