Jadon Sancho has described Raheem Sterling as "an inspiration" after the Manchester City forward picked up the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year gong.
Sterling was announced as the winner of the award on Monday as Nikita Parris made it a double for City by scooping the women's award.
Over 400 votes were cast by members of the FWA and Sterling received 62 percent of them, beating runner-up Virgil van Dijk by more than 100 votes.
Sancho, a former teammate of Sterling at City, had some kind words for the England forward ahead of the next week's awards ceremony in London.
"He is an inspiration to a lot of youngsters, especially because he is from London and I am from London," Sancho told Sky Sports News about his England team-mate.
"I am sure every youngster from London will look up to him and probably [try] to be like him and win big awards like that one day."
Sterling has come in for plenty of praise this season for his vocal stance on several social issues.
The 24-year-old was the victim of racial abuse during a recent England international against Montenegro and he has helped to raise awareness of the issue by speaking out against racism in football.
"I agree with Raheem a lot. He has had some tough experiences," Sancho added. "It is not nice [when] what you do on the pitch and what you love, to hear those things off the pitch.
"What he is doing is really good for us and we have just got to support him and get behind him."
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