HOURS AFTER BEING heckled by Liverpool fans at the launch of the club’s new kit, Raheem Sterling has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons again after he was allegedly pictured smoking a shisha pipe.
A photo of the 20-year-old puffing from the large pipe, which experts claim is as strong as a cigarette, was published by The Sunday Mirror.
The photo surfaced on social media with the caption ’1 down another 3 to go’ reportedly referring to how many pipe’s Sterling and his partying friends had left to smoke.
He is not the first high-profile footballer to be pictured smoking the pipe.
Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere was caught-up in a similar storm in February as he was pictured holding a shisha pipe in a nightclub.
The British Heart Foundation’s website says: “Shisha pipes contains nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, such as arsenic and lead and as a result, shisha smokers are at risk of the same kinds of diseases as cigarette smokers, such as heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease.”
The Mirror claim Sterling’s representatives and Liverpool declined to comment about the latest controversy the English international has become embroiled in.
Sterling received a mixed reception at Anfield on Friday during the Reds’ kit launch as the winger’s future remains uncertain.
The England international turned down a new £100,000 a week contract offer from Liverpool earlier this month with negotiations on hold until the end of the season.
Brendan Rodgers’ side face Newcastle in the Premier League tomorrow.
