A motorist ‘sounded his horn repeatedly’ as he tried to warn ex-England footballer Raheem Sterling he was swerving across the motorway – before his £270,000 Lamborghini crashed into a barrier.
The 31-year-old, who last played for his country in December 2022, zig-zagged between lanes on the M3 on Thursday morning near Minley in Hampshire.
He was pulled over by police at 9am and bailed pending enquiries on suspicion of ‘driving a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs, driving dangerously, possession of a Class C drug and failing to provide a specimen’.
A witness has now said the collision caused the wheels of Sterling’s Lamborghini Urus V8 to leap 4ft into the air.
He claimed the footballer had also driven on the wrong side of the slip road at one point, towards oncoming traffic.
The motorist, a van driver who did not want to be named, told The Sun: ‘Just after I got on the M3 westbound I saw a Lamborghini swerving.
‘He nearly crashed into the left-hand barrier. He was drifting left into the hard shoulder and almost crashed. I thought there was something up with this guy.’
The driver added Sterling’s Lamborghini had nearly hit the side of his vehicle – prompting him to ‘beep him’.
Former England star Raheem Sterling has been arrested on suspicion of drug driving
The 31-year-old’s career has nosedived since he left Manchester City for Chelsea in 2022
He said Sterling, who he could make out as a ‘young guy with a vest on’, did not appear to hear the warning.
The swerving then reportedly got ‘much worse’ – with ‘four or five cars having to pull over to get out of his way’.
The lorry driver added: ‘I was still looking in my mirrors because it was inevitable he was going to crash.’
He said the car then veered into a barrier – sending the tyres flying into the air and the vehicle spinning ‘about 180 degrees’.
Hampshire Police said: ‘Just before 9am on Thursday, we received reports that a Lamborghini was in collision with barriers on the M3 southbound, close to the Minley Interchange.
‘No other vehicles were involved and no injuries were reported.
‘The driver, a 31-year-old man, from Berkshire, has been arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle whilst unfit through drugs, driving dangerously, possession of a Class C drug and failing to provide a specimen. He has been bailed while our enquiries continue.’
A source close to Sterling explained how he has had a hellish two years when contacted by Daily Mail Sport on Friday night, saying: ‘The psychological strain that has been put on him is immeasurable. Isolated. The second he touches a ball, being told he’s a flop and he’s finished. Mocked. Heckled.
‘He moved to the Netherlands to escape and rediscover his love for the game but the negativity followed. It’s been an extremely tough couple of years for him and this incident encompasses that.’
Sterling’s representatives declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Sport.
The forward’s career has nosedived since he left Manchester City for Chelsea in the summer of 2022.
Having lifted 10 major trophies at City, including four Premier League titles and the FA Cup, the Blues signed him for £50million on a five-year deal worth £325,000-per-week.
He endured a torrid spell at Stamford Bridge that saw him exiled to former manager Enzo Maresca’s ‘bomb squad’, and he was forced to train away from the first team for over six months after dramatically sliding down the pecking order.
A failed loan spell with Arsenal came in the 2024-25 season, and his Blues deal was ripped up a matter of months ago.
He would go on to sign for Feyenoord in February, and played eight times for the Dutch club without scoring before the end of the season, with his contract now expiring.
Sterling also broke through at Liverpool as a teenager, before leaving Anfield for the Etihad in 2015. He played 82 times for the England senior team, with his last appearance in the 2-1 defeat by France in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
