'So strong' – Premier League star with 360 appearances was always a nightmare to play against

It’s easy to forget that Leeds striker Patrick Bamford was once a Chelsea youth player, and he’s just shared a story about coming up against a current Blue when they were both playing as teenagers.

Bamford was always highly rated as a youngster, but Raheem Sterling was next level. He was considered a prodigy since he was very young, and hearing Bamford talk about him you can see why.

His quotes on the winger were really fascinating:

“Raz is so strong. I think the first time I came across him I was probably 10 when he was at QPR and we played in a tournament. He was a little kid, like tiny, and he was just running rings around everyone,” Bamford said on the My Mate’s A Footballer podcast.

“Nobody knew him as Raheem Sterling, everyone would just say that Raheem kid. And then he moved to Liverpool and flourished from there.”

Sterling is one of those players who seemed to jump from teenage talent to veteran with no in between. He’s still just 28, amazingly, but has been part of the national consciousness since 2012, when he made his debut for Liverpool as a teenager.

Since then he’s racked up almost 400 Premier League appearances and more than 100 goals, but Bamford will always remember him as the fearsome little dribbler in their youth games together.