Wednesday 1 May 2019 22:30, UK
Jadon Sancho says Raheem Sterling is an inspiration to youngsters in England for his achievements in the game and his stance against racial discrimination.
Sterling was named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year, a day after he was awarded the PFA's Young Player of the Year award, recognising his influence for Manchester City and England this season.
The 24-year-old has also received widespread praise for his determination to call out racial abuse directed at him and other players, backing harsher punishments for those guilty of discriminatory behaviour.
Sancho discussed Sterling's growing impact at an event launching Nike's partnership with the London Youth Games - London's largest provider of youth sporting opportunities for over 40 years with a mission to inspire and enable every young Londoner to find their best through sport.
The Games have so far reached 140,000 young people across 33 boroughs in 30 sports.
"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 received other accolades, including The Integrity and Impact Award at this year's BT Sport Industry Awards last week, for speaking out on a range of social issues.
The former Liverpool midfielder suffered alleged racist abuse from Chelsea fans in a Premier League game at Stamford Bridge in December before he accused some sections of the media of helping to "fuel racism" with their portrayal of young black footballers.
Sterling was also among a number of England players subjected to racist abuse during England's 5-1 European Qualifiers victory in Montenegro in March and has since repeated the need for more to be done to tackle the problem.
"I agree with Raheem a lot. He has had some tough experiences," Sancho said.
"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."
Jadon Sancho was speaking at the launch of Nike's partnership with London Youth Games. Explore what's on in your borough, how you can participate and how to get involved at www.londonyouthgames.org. For further information about commitments and the partnership with Virgin Sport to get Hackney moving, and more, please visit nike.com.
