Liverpool star Raheem Sterling caught smoking SHISHA

Controversial Liverpool star Raheem Sterling has become engulfed in another storm after being snapped puffing on a shisha pipe.

The picture of him inhaling on the bright orange pipe during a night out with pals emerged just hours after he upset his army of fans by snubbing a £100,000-a-week contract.

Experts warn a single shisha session could be equivalent to smoking up to 200 cigarettes.

Dressed in a white T-shirt and grey jogging bottoms, tattooed Sterling, who has 14 England

caps, drags heavily on the long pipe while partying with friends in Liverpool.

And the “1 down 3 to go” message on the picture allegedly referred to how the group had prepared more pipes to smoke.

It was shared on social media provoking a backlash against the star for putting his health at risk.

The image will shock team-mates and parents of youngsters who idolise the winger, 20.

The British Heart Foundation website warns: “Like cigarettes it contains nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, such as arsenic and lead.

 “As a result, shisha smokers are at risk of the same kinds of diseases as cigarette smokers, such as heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease.”

It is difficult to say exactly how much smoke or toxic substances smokers are exposed to – but in one puff of shisha some users could inhale the same amount of tobacco smoke as from a whole cigarette.

And the Department of Health warns shishas – a water-pipe in which fruit-scented tobacco is burnt using coal and smoked – produce levels of toxic carbon monoxide four to five times higher than cigarettes.

Sterling and his representatives declined to comment about the picture as he prepared to play in tomorrow night’s clash with Newcastle at Anfield.

Liverpool Football Club also declined to comment on the player’s actions.

It is just the latest off-the-field scandal to hit Sterling.

In October he was seen partying in a London nightclub until 3am – just a day after claiming he was “too tired” to play for England in a Euro 2016 qualifier.

But he hit back at critics, including England legend Alan Shearer, tweeting: “Excuse me for being human.”

Later in a candid interview Sterling said he had curbed his unruly behaviour.

“When the time is right, I have a laugh and a joke with my friends on a day off, but I have had to make sacrifices and in that sense it’s been a huge step forward, completely different to how it was before,” he said.

“I can’t be doing stuff any other 18 or 19-year-old was doing. I knew I had to make changes, to ensure being the best I could be.”

On Friday the unsettled forward was heckled by fans as he modelled Liverpool’s new strip for the 2015-16 campaign, with one spectator yelling at him: “Make sure we see you in it next season.”

It came after he angered Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers by refusing to discuss terms with the club until the end of May.

He said: “The public see it as this 20-year-old boy being greedy. The most important thing for me is to keep my focus and not listen to what’s being said.”

In a staggering BBC interview not sanctioned by his club he hinted at wanting to leave, saying: “All I want to do is play football at the highest level.

"I’ve got two years left and I’ve still got time before it’s finished.”