He's a very good player, but "world class" he is not, nor was he then. Football fans in general, but RAWK in particular, bandy the phrase "world class" about like world class players are falling off trees. Like Can, he has a few too many deficiencies to ever be considered a true world class player, but he is definitely elite level. He's very intelligent, but he lacks strength and power - especially his driven shots and passes, which are a level below some Under 14s. World class players generally tend to not have many (if any) deficiencies for the areas of the field they play in. He's quite fortunate right now to be playing in a team coached by the best attacking coach on the planet. If that situation changes, I'm not so sure Sterling would have the right tools to adapt and be at the same level. He's doing about as well as Lukaku is for United, and nobody would call Lukaku a "world class" player, right?