Sterling denies Liverpool sickie

Raheem Sterling has denied calling in sick for Liverpool training before his move to Manchester City.

Sterling, 20, last week completed a switch to the Etihad Stadium for a fee which could reportedly rise to £49million after an acrimonious departure from the Merseyside club.

The England international missed two days of training in his final week at the club, with suggestions he was trying to influence transfer talks.

But Sterling said it was a genuine illness – and the Liverpool doctor – that prevented him from training.

“Everyone thought I threw a sick note in. I was in training on the Tuesday – in the changing room my stomach started hurting. I still went out and trained though,” he told the Manchester Evening News.

“That day I went home, and I told the doc I was ill. My stomach was rumbling and I had diarrhoea.

“The doctor just said to me you can’t be around the other players. For the next 48 hours, I stayed at home.

“That’s what the club doctor told me to do. When that 48 hours was done I came back to training as normal.”