Raheem Sterling has admitted he is no longer "in awe" of football legends like his former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
The Man City star has been playing at the top level for close to a decade now, despite still being only 25.
Sterling broke into the Liverpool first-team aged 16, when Gerrard had already operating at his peak for some years.
But although Sterling was once starstruck to be in the same company as the Reds hero, his career path has helped him develop an ice-cool mentality.
"Probably when I was 17, 18, 19 I was in awe [of great players]," Sterling told BBC Radio 5 Live . "[When I was young, I looked up to] Ronaldinho. If you check my history on YouTube, I think I've watched every single clip of his playing career.
“He was a player that I used to go in the garden to try to recreate but it could never be done. I tried it to the best of my ability, but he was something special.
"Steven Gerrard was the first person I felt a bit in awe of – I couldn’t believe I was standing in front of him but not now, it's just strictly business: ‘I need to beat your team’ and it's as simple as that.
“I think they are great players and everything but I don’t really dwell on that anymore."
Sterling's increased maturity led to him captaining his country for the first time last year in England's UEFA Nations League semi-final against Netherlands.
The forward is now considered among the top talents in the game, and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher feels he can go on to become a legend in his own right.
“I think right now if you were buying him, you’d be buying him for the future as well," Carragher told Sky Sports.
"The thing I love about Sterling is that he is never injured, his high-intensity running is off the scale and he’s now getting lots of goals as well.
"I think he’s a brilliant player and he’s only going to get better in the future."
