A decade after having his breakthrough season at Liverpool, Raheem Sterling looks to haunt his former side in the Carabao Cup final.
It also marks his first final with Chelsea since joining the club in 2022 and he’s looking to win the competition for the sixth time in his career – having won it many times as part of Manchester City.
Sterling has now become a veteran in English football and his experience will play a vital part if Mauricio Pochettino’s side aims to end Jurgen Klopp’s party.
The Englishman has 16 goal contributions (eight goals, eight assists) in 31 appearances this season and is coming off scoring in his side’s gutsy draw against Manchester City recently.
While he prepares for the Carabao Cup final, it appears that Sterling is also ready to debut a brand new hairstyle for the occasion at Wembley.
The stylish 31-year-old has donned a number of different hair-dos in his career, but this one has started to make waves among football Twitter.
Raheem Sterling Debuts Rare New Hairstyle
Just a few days before the Carabao Cup final, Sterling appears to have let his hair flow and go loose.
This can surprise some fans considering the fact that as soon as the previous week itself against the Cityzens, Sterling had styled his hair full of little braids – an appearance he maintained for the majority of the campaign.
But it seems that he has now gotten rid of the braids and just let the hair flow in one single afro – with his new look seeing him brush everything towards the back. He seems to be really happy with this style and also delighted teammate Enzo Fernandez in training.
However, some in Football Twitter have found this afro-look making Sterling look extremely similar to the ex-Chelsea winger.
In fact, few also believe that a near-decade-old meme has come alive – which shows Raheem with a similar afro during his Liverpool days.
The meme was created thanks to a picture when Sterling’s Liverpool faced Chelsea and a photographer took a picture of Sterling with Willian in the background. The resulting pic made Sterling look like he was sporting an afro as Willian’s face was completely consumed by his.
Sterling seems to be one who likes to experiment with his hair and has showcased a number of different styles over the last decade. When he debuted for the Reds, he had a short hairstyle with his sides all shaved off.
The Englishman then transitioned into a shorter, crew cut. Since then, he has changed his appearance quite often with different experiments.
Is Sterling Suffering From Case Of Receding Hairline?
Soon after joining Chelsea, Sterling actually gave an interview where he ‘rated’ his older hairstyles. He seems to really like his braids look, but also liked the ‘vibe’ of shorter curled braids during his time at Manchester City.
However, it seems that messing with his hair so much might be causing potential long-term issues for Sterling. Over the last few years, a lot of football fans have noticed that his hairline might be actually receding and there have been quite a lot of complaints of the same.
Sterling earns over £16.5 million per year at Chelsea, so money won’t be a factor for him if he wants to go an expensive hair transplant procedure.
The 29-year-old should probably just stick with one particular hairstyle, be it this afro one itself, and start fixing up the receding issues towards temple area of his face to ensure that he can keep his flowing and smooth hair for a long time.