Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has implored the England national team to take a little more care when assimilating young players into the setup.
Talented Reds winger Raheem Sterling was thrust into the limelight late last year when making his Three Lions debut in a friendly with Sweden but has not figured for the seniors again.
Rodgers suggests that perhaps young players, such as Sterling, should not be promised so much so early and perhaps could be nurtured with kid gloves in order to allow them to integrate slowly but surely rather than so rapidly.
"At that point in time he was one of the best young players in the country and he went into that game and actually did well," he told the Daily Express.
"But it is about managing expectations - that is the biggest thing with a young player. You have to be so careful because there are so many young players in the country who get a cap and then are forgotten about.
"It can cause issues. It hasn't as such, but I'm talking about young players here and not just Raheem.
"If they get projected into the international teams too early there can be a misplaced belief that they are considered 'international players' when sometimes the circumstances dictate that."
