At the last minute, the outcast Raheem Sterling has made the jump from Chelsea FC, at least for the time being. He will wear the shirt of city rivals Arsenal until the end of the season
Raheem Sterling was threatened with six months without match practice after being booted out by Chelsea if he wanted to stay at home. However, an interesting option opened up for the 29-year-old on deadline day: runners-up Arsenal showed interest and were ultimately awarded the contract. As the Gunners only announced after the end of the transfer window, the 82-time England international will remain on loan until the end of the season.
Sterling was recently one of the “15 to 20 professionals” excluded from team training with new coach Enzo Maresca – the club even gave his shirt number 7 to new signing Pedro Neto. Chelsea used such means to pressure the winger, who is arguably one of the top earners in the entire Premier League, into a move – and the plan worked, at least temporarily
Sterling experienced six coaches in two years
In 2022, the west Londoners paid €55 million to ManCity for Thomas Tuchel’s dream player at the time. However, the collaboration with the German coach was short-lived. Less than two months after the transfer, the club parted ways with Tuchel – it was the beginning of turbulent years under the new management of Todd Boehly. In total, Sterling experienced six different coaches in his two years (68 games, 17 goals), playing under every coach apart from Maresca.
The Englishman is held in higher regard at Arsenal than by the Italian – the current CFC coach has spoken publicly about not liking Sterling’s style of play. Mikel Arteta is a fan of the attacking player. The two are said to have maintained a close relationship since their time together at Manchester City. “My time with him was exceptional. We built up a really strong relationship,” Arteta had already revealed before the transfer.
Following the signings of Riccardo Calafiori, Mikel Merino, Neto and the permanent transfer of David Raya, who was previously on loan, Sterling is the Gunners’ fifth and final addition this summer.
