Raheem Sterling was arrested on Thursday morning after a Lamborghini collided with barriers on the M3 southbound near the Minley Interchange, an incident that put the former England winger back in the news for all the wrong reasons. Hampshire constabulary said the driver, a 31-year-old man from Berkshire, was taken into custody on suspicion of several driving offences.
Police said the crash happened just before 9am on Thursday 28 May. No other vehicles were involved and no injuries were reported. The man was arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs, driving dangerously, possession of a class C drug and failing to provide a specimen, then bailed while inquiries continued.
The arrest lands at a difficult moment for Sterling, who is now playing for Feyenoord in the Netherlands after leaving Chelsea by mutual consent in January. He had 18 months left on a Chelsea contract worth £325,000 a week, but a source close to him says he moved to the Netherlands to escape and rediscover his love for football after feeling “disposable” following a decade at the top of the game.
That same source said he had been under “immeasurable” psychological strain after an “extremely tough couple of years”, adding that he had been made to feel worthless and forgotten. Sterling has faced racist abuse throughout his career and has accused the media of helping to fuel racism through negative, unfairly critical coverage of black footballers compared with white players.
The friction in this case is straightforward: police have set out the arrest on suspicion of drug-related driving offences, while a source close to Sterling insists he was held under suspicion only and says there is no proof of anything in his system. For now, that leaves the facts where officers placed them on Thursday morning, and the question of what testing or further inquiries will show remains open.
Hampshire constabulary says its inquiries continue. That means the next development will not be a fresh quote or a statement of intent, but the result of whatever checks follow the arrest that sent Sterling from the M3 into a far bigger spotlight.
