Leading academic claims Raheem Sterling may be showing early signs of 'burnout'
Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling "could be displaying some of the early signs of burnout", according to a leading academic researching the field.
Dr Andrew Hill believes the Liverpool teenager's complaints of tiredness on England duty could be linked to stress caused by fast-rising demands at both club and country.
England boss Roy Hodgson left Sterling on the bench for Sunday night's unconvincing Euro 2016 qualifying victory in Estonia after the 19-year-old admitted to fatigue in training.
Hodgson has been criticised for his handling of the matter, with some suggesting he had given in to Liverpool following the controversy over Daniel Sturridge's injury on international duty last month and other observers arguing that he should have kept Sterling's admission private and given another reason for his absence.
York St John University lecturer Dr Hill conducts extensive research into the relationship between chronic stress-induced burnout and the drive for perfection, across sport and other areas of work and study.
"He could be displaying some of the early signs of burnout," Dr Hill told Press Association Sport.
"Burnout is something we consider far more psychologically-driven than anything physiological.
"That doesn't mean they are not correlated, but we really understand it to be a psychological, stress-driven condition.
Former Leeds University academic, Hill, added:
"External pressures are a very big predictor of burnout, associated with stress, because you don't have any control over those standards.
"You can't control what other people are expecting of you. So that links to the chronic accrual of stress, which speaks directly to burnout.
"Everyone gets stressed, but not everyone burns out - it's the people that can't cope with that stress who burn out, and over time it accrues and weighs heavy on them."