Arsene Wenger has hailed Raheem Sterling as one of the best players in Europe, but has doubts about whether the England forward can hit the heights of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Sterling enjoyed a fine campaign for club and country last season as the Manchester City forward finished with 31 goals to his name.

The 24-year-old has continued that form this season and he has already found the net 11 times ahead of England’s Euro 2020 qualifier with the Czech Republic on Friday night.

The forward’s performances have led to former Arsenal boss Wenger singling out Sterling as one of the best players in Europe.

But when asked if he thought Sterling had the ability to rival the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, Wenger told beIN Sports: “At the moment I would say no.

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“You have always to be careful, I personally like Sterling but when you talk about these guys you are talking about 50 goals a season for 10 seasons.

“So, I think personally that he is not there but he is one of the prominent players in the [Premier] League - which is one of the best in Europe.”

Wenger was a fan of Sterling during his time in charge of Arsenal and was linked with trying to bring him to the Emirates.

The Frenchman believes the 24-year-old has developed since then and he sees shades of former Gunners winger Marc Overmars in him.

“I always thought when he was a young boy, I thought he had unbelievable pace and quantity of power to repeat that pace,” Wenger added.

“Both he and [Leroy] Sane are the highest intensity workers in the league, he is so quick on his first two yards, he reminds me of Marc Overmars. That’s unstoppable.

“What Sterling didn’t have back then was calmness in his finishing but now he has that. Sometimes, with very fast players they want to rush their finish and that’s what he has improved.

“He has confidence. He still misses some, his conversion rate could be improved, but he is an exceptional talent and he can cause damage against anybody.”

England can move a step closer to qualifying for next summer’s European Championships with a win in Prague tonight and Wenger believes it is a tournament they have should have serious aspirations about winning.

“England are one of the favourites yes. England are very close,” he said.

“My prediction for the previous World Cup was France versus England. England is the only team that could have given France a problem…they could have fought on the power side.

“France were a team that had a good balance in power and technical quality and England had that as well.”