Ashley Cole believes Manchester City star Raheem Sterling is an ‘easy target’ for the media rather than being singled out for criticism because he is black.
Sterling was the subject of alleged racial abuse towards the end of last year, with Chelsea suspending four supporters amid an investigation into the behaviour towards the England forward during the Blues’ 2-0 Premier League defeat of Manchester City.
The 24-year-old later released an emotional Instagram post which criticised newspapers for ‘helping to fuel racism’ with their negative portrayal of young black footballers in relation to their white contemporaries.
Sterling was widely praised for his decision to call out the media’s alleged latent racism, having had to deal with a large number of negative stories about his own life throughout his career.
Cole, the former Arsenal, Chelsea and England defender, had an occasionally fractious relationship with the media when he was at his peak, and he sees parallels with his situation and how Sterling is treated.
However, the 38-year-old does not think racism plays a part in the discrimination, with Cole believing Sterling being seen as an ‘easy target’ is not because of skin colour.
“There’s definitely similarities but mine was probably caused more than him,” Cole said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football. “I don’t think he’s done anything wrong.
“I mucked up a few times so I get my situation but with Raheem, he was just more of an easy target.
“I’m not saying it’s because he’s black. No, it’s definitely not that. I just felt that they make him more of an easy target.
“They keep putting him in the paper with a new car, a new tattoo. People are going to start to think different things and you’re going to have that stigma with it. I just feel it was a little bit too much.”