AP

England's Jamaica-born player Raheem Sterling.

AP

England's team coach Roy Hodgson (left) watches the Euro 2016 qualifying match between Estonia and England in Tallinn, Estonia on Sunday.

AP

England's Raheem Sterling (left) hurdling a tackle from Costa Rica's Junior Diaz during this year's World Cup in Brazil.

Jamaican-born English winger Raheem Sterling has found himself at the centre of a broiling debate after complaining that he was too tired to start against Estonia in a European qualifier.

Sterling, who hit back at critics through social media platform Twitter, noting he is only human, told England manager Roy Hodgson that he would rather start from the bench in the game in Tallinn on Sunday.

The 19 year-old was brought on for the final 25 minutes of the game and was directly involved in the team's success after winning the free kick that was later converted by Wayne Rooney to secure a narrow win for the Three Lions. After playing 44 matches last season, including England's three FIFA World Cup games in Brazil, Sterling has been just as busy so far this season, appearing 14 times for club and country -12 of those as a starter.

The attacker has racked up 1,079 playing minutes on the field with Chelsea's Gary Cahill (1,164) being the only player in the England squad with more minutes than the youngster.

Criticism

After receiving a barrage of criticisms on social media (one tweet told the Duhaney Park native to "... choose to play for Jamaica if you're going to continue all this tired nonsense.") Sterling seemed to have responded with a tweet of his own: "Excuse me for being human - omw (on my way) home." while returning to the Liverpool camp following Sunday's game. But some have questioned whether or not the player was influenced by his club or manager Brendan Rodgers, who recently argued that the youngster was at risk of being burnt out. However, former England captain Rio Ferdinand has defended Sterling, noting that other England players such as Rooney and Steven Gerrard could have had better international careers if they took more rest.

"With more rest at the right times throughout seasons, Rooney would have gone into tournaments for England fresher 100 per cent," said Ferdinand. "Same could be said of Gerrard, [Frank] Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole myself etc - all too proud to sit out of training or a match with the bigger picture in mind."