The 2018 World Cup hasn't even begun but the players are already well and truly in the spotlight.
The first target for many people is Raheem Sterling, the England winger and recent Premier League champion, who has a tattoo of an assault rifle on his leg.
It has been making newspaper front pages today, describing the tattoo as "sick", while an anti-gun activist called it "totally unacceptable".
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Sterling himself took to Instagram to explain himself, posting a story that read: "When I was 2 my father died from being gunned down to death I made a promise to myself I would never touch a gun in my life time, I shoot with my right foot so it has a deeper meaning N still unfinished."
Sterling has often been the target of fury, with stories about him often exaggerated and flat out made up.
Many within the media have called other tabloids out for racist treatment of Sterling, who was born in Jamaica.
Good Morning Britain got in on the act, asking their audience what they thought of Sterling's tattoo.
"What a joke the media are" replied one viewer, while another had a dig at presenter Piers Morgan, writing: "What's worse a footballer with a leg tattoo or having a presenter that framed soldiers with a made up story?"
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One tweeter summed it up perfectly, writing: "Personally, his tattoo doesn't affect or offend me so I'm not worried about it. It does affect me though when people want one of our best players dropped from the England squad though because he has a tattoo of a gun???!!! Crazy. I want us to do well in the World Cup."
Topics: SPORT, Football, England, World Cup
