Raheem Sterling has revealed his go-to characters in the England squad, depending on how he’s feeling.
The Three Lions forward is one of the squad’s liveliest personalities around the camp, but also one of the hardest trainers.
And when the Manchester City man told Sunday’s Lions’ Den show about the fellow squad mates who he looks to for both the serious business and his own entertainment off the pitch.
"I have different people for different moments,” explained Sterling.
“There’s John [Stones] and Dele for when I want to mess about and have a silly time.
"He’s [Dele] childish, I'm childish so the childish connection works really well.
"And then I speak to the likes of Hendo for when I want to be serious, but everyone gets along really well so it’s good.”
Despite his relatively tender age of 23, this is Sterling’s second World Cup after previously heading to Russia four years ago as part of Roy Hodgson’s squad.
And the former Liverpool player admits to feeling much more part of things this time around, as one of the squad’s more experienced heads.
"I feel more involved this time, in terms of the last one was coming in and not knowing what's going on,” he added.
"It was like a big blur to me, but with this one you feel the energy in the team and you feel much more of a team player because you've been around the set up for longer.
"I'm just much more comfortable around the place and it's been enjoyable.
"It just feels like being at home, apart from not having your kids here!”
The squad have been back at their base in Repino and in training since Friday, ahead of Tuesday’s last-16 game with Colombia.
With the competition now into its knock-out stages, Sterling also revealed that preparation for the game in Moscow has remained the same since the start of the tournament.
"It's been good to get back into training and we've got to make sure we're on it now, because it's a vital point of the tournament,” said Sterling, who was also surprised on the show with a phone call from his old youth coach Clive Ellington.
"We're preparing like how we prepared for the last three games. The manager treats every game the same and the attention to detail he's brought in is really good.
“So we're not really trying anything we haven't been doing, just keep the same things and that should hopefully work.”
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