World Cup 2014: Raheem Sterling has the potential to become one of the best players in the world

Raheem Sterling’s incredible rise will have taken nobody at Queens Park Rangers by surprise and he undoubtedly has the potential to become one of the best players in the world.

It was a very special moment watching him produce the performance he did against Italy and I am fully expecting him to play a key role if England are to beat Uruguay on Thursday night.

I have had the pleasure of knowing the little guy since he was 13 and it was clear from a very early age that we were dealing with an extraordinary talent. I was the coach of the under-16s at the time and it was not long until I was promoting him to a level way above his own age group.

Usually at that level you only deal with 15 and 16-year-olds but, even at 13, Raheem was just finding it so easy.

He was scoring goals from all over the pitch and running past people like they were not even there.

Playing for the under-16s at that age was the first sign that we had a player on our hands, even though a lot of people dismissed him because of his size.

Believe me, he was tiny at that age and I think a lot of the bigger clubs shied away from signing him because they thought he was too small.

But it was not too long until his reputation was the talk of the club and the manager at the time, Jim Magilton, invited him to join the first team for a training session at the age of 14.

It was a great gesture from Jim, and I was grateful, but it was intended as a message to Raheem that he was a very valued part of the club.

He was playing with experienced first-teamers, such as Fitz Hall and Rowan Vine, but at the end of the session he got a round of applause from everyone.

He had taken their breath away and he has been doing it ever since.

The one thing that always stuck with me was that he absolutely hated losing. He was so desperate to win that there were times that he simply walked off the pitch.

Because of his tough upbringing his teachers at school said he had a temper and maybe walking off the pitch was a way of protecting himself from getting into trouble.

It was always a huge regret that he left QPR when he did, without playing a game, but Liverpool have been tremendous for him and helped him mature as a player and a man.

Shortly after he signed for Liverpool he sent me a text message to say he was in London and asked if he could come to the training ground.

I said of course he could, and when he turned up he had not changed one bit.

There was nothing “big time” about him and he stayed at the end to collect all the balls and training kit. He was as down to earth as you could possibly imagine.

I have kept in touch with him and he texted me a few weeks back to invite me to the Peru friendly as his guest. Unfortunately, I was away on holiday with my family but he insisted the offer was open in the future.

It is fascinating to watch how his career has developed and how he is now being seen as one of the star men for England.

Whenever I think of him I have to laugh at just how good he was at QPR – and how good he is going to be.

Steve Gallen is QPR’s Senior Professional Development Coach