IT took Raheem Sterling 46 matches to score his first three goals in an England shirt. In these European Championships, he has scored three goals in the space of four games.

A lot lies beneath those bare statistics, but in terms of highlighting both Sterling’s career trajectory on the international stage and his evolution into a crucial component of Gareth Southgate’s tactical template for his England side, they nevertheless provide a neat summation of the general story. He might have been a slow burner when it came to transferring his electrifying club form to an England shirt, but at the age of 26, Sterling has never been more important or effective than he is now.

Thankfully, even his detractors are starting to see the light. The England team is the nation’s footballing obsession, so it is always going to spark debate and there will inevitably be players that are fans’ favourites while others are pigeon-holed into the category labelled ‘scapegoat’. Even so, Sterling has had an especially rough ride.

He was written off as a ‘luxury player’ in the early days of his international career, and even when England made the semi-finals of the last World Cup in Russia, Sterling’s failure to score in the tournament, and the fact he missed a handful of good chances, meant his place in the team was constantly being questioned.

He scored eight goals in qualifying for the Euros, yet having been shuffled in and out of Manchester City’s starting line-up in the closing weeks of last season by Pep Guardiola, he once again found his right to a starting place challenged in the build-up to the tournament.

If Southgate was struggling to find a place for Phil Foden and Jack Grealish in his team, why on earth was he sticking with Sterling? No end product, a headless chicken, a money-obsessed millionaire with no pride in the shirt. Then, unfortunately, there was also the anti-racism campaigning, admired by the vast majority of right-minded England fans, but derided by a minority who sadly like to make themselves heard.

Crucially, Southgate is happy to ignore all that external noise. Over the course of the last few years, he has made his mind up about two things with Sterling. First, he knows just how much the working-class boy from Brent, brought up a stone’s throw from Wembley, cares. A video emerged on social media in the wake of Tuesday’s win over Germany showing the moment a crestfallen Sterling watched on as his errant pass almost resulted in Thomas Muller equalising. Burying his head in his hands, he crumpled onto the turf before he was hauled up by a supportive Kieran Trippier. Dig it out, then dismiss once and for all any suggestion that Sterling does not care about playing for England deeply.

Having the right amount of heart is one thing, though. Over the last three or four years, Southgate has also watched Sterling start to play with his head. In the early days of his international career, some of the criticisms about the forward going to pieces in the 18-yard box were probably justified. Not anymore.

Sterling has become a different player after working with Guardiola at Manchester City, more clinical certainly, but also more fearless when it comes to breaking into the penalty area and isolating defenders one-on-one. Southgate has constructed his England side to be well-organised and tough to break down, but for that game plan to work, there has to be someone capable of taking the fight to the opposition and stretching play with his pace and intelligent running. Sterling is that man.

“He is a fighter,” said Southgate, when asked about the transformation in Sterling’s play. “He has got incredible resilience and hunger. He has developed, over the last couple of years, this real hunger to score. Even in the games where the ball has flashed across the box earlier in the tournament, he has been in between the posts.

“He is finding himself in these areas and, yes, his drive is fantastic. We know the journey he has been on with England, and I am so happy for him to be able to deliver the performances he has.”

Southgate pinpoints one moment as being absolutely pivotal to Sterling’s growth as an England player. In Seville, in October 2018, Sterling scored two first-half goals as England ripped Spain apart to win 3-2 in the Nations League. It was a game that persuaded Southgate to move away from the template he had employed at the World Cup in Russia, and also that convinced Sterling he was capable of starring on the international stage.

“He was probably the only one of the players to come back from the World Cup with a different feeling,” said Southgate. “And I talked to him at length about that. I think Seville was a really lift-off moment for him.

“You could almost see it. He almost jumped into the second tier of the stadium if you look at the celebration that night of his goal. I really feel this was a significant moment for him. He had been scoring for his club, but had not been able to translate that across. Now, I think he feels happy in our environment.”

That happiness and comfort is evident in both the way he performs on the pitch, and the manner in which he interacts with his team-mates, who now clearly regard him as a key senior member of the group.

There have been times when he has felt like an outsider, but as England prepare for tomorrow’s quarter-final with Ukraine, his is the most important outfield name on Southgate’s team sheet.

While it is to be hoped Harry Kane's goal against Germany sparks the start of a scoring run, it is Sterling that will primarily be charged with the task of penetrating the Ukrainian defence. As England expects, so it is Sterling that has delivered.