Maresca has unearthed Sterling 2.0 in Chelsea star who has "disappeared"

Chelsea’s bid to secure Champions League qualification continues on Sunday afternoon, with Enzo Maresca’s side taking on rivals Arsenal at the Emirates amid what is an action-packed day of football.

One man who will be forced to watch on for that all-London affair, however, is 82-cap England international, Raheem Sterling, with the 30-year-old, who is currently on loan with the Gunners, unable to feature against his parent club.

Quite whether the former Manchester City man would have started anyway, even amid Arsenal’s attacking injury woes, remains to be seen, albeit with the experienced winger having supplied two assists in midweek during the Champions League clash with PSV.

That bright showing against the Eredivisie side represented a notable high point in an otherwise low-key temporary stint in north London for Sterling, having only started ten games in all competitions, scoring only once.

The struggling forward had likely been hoping for a fresh start under the tutelage of former City assistant, Mikel Arteta, although on the evidence to date, he has simply regressed even further following a tricky two years at Stamford Bridge.

Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea woes

The one-time Liverpool man has, perplexingly, been a polarising figure across his time in English football. That was best epitomised by ex-City teammate Kevin De Bruyne, who stated that the press perception of Sterling had led him to believe the winger would be ‘arrogant’, albeit having ultimately encountered what the Belgian described as ‘one of the nicest, most humble guys I’ve met in football’.

On the pitch too, the former teen sensation has not always received the recognition he deserves, having scored 20 goals in 82 games for his country, while most notably netting 131 times during his spell at the Etihad.

It was that form in Manchester that tempted Todd Boehly and co into splashing out a reported fee of £50m for his signature in 2022, with then-boss Thomas Tuchel describing Sterling as a “huge player” at the time.

Sadly, as his subsequent loan move has indicated, things simply haven’t worked out in west London, with the ageing star scoring just 19 goals in 81 games in all competitions to date.

That resulted in the £325k-per-week asset being exiled at the start of the current campaign by Maresca, resulting in his temporary switch away, with it hard to see any way back at his parent club, amid the largely youth-centric approach that Boehly has overseen.

Seemingly an expensive mistake considering his wage and transfer fee, Sterling’s case is one which Chelsea will hope to avoid in future. Unfortunately, however, the scenario already looks to be repeating itself.

Chelsea have unearthed the new Raheem Sterling

Signing an English talent who’s fallen on hard times from a Manchester-based, Premier League rival – sound familiar?

Like with Sterling – who had admitted his “game time was getting limited” at the Etihad – Chelsea made the decision to rescue Jadon Sancho from his Manchester United hell over the summer, after making a loan swoop of their own late in the window.

Signed on a deal that includes an obligation to buy for a fee between £20m-£25m, the 24-year-old had also fallen way down the pecking order back at Old Trafford, after spending the second half of last season on loan at Borussia Dortmund.

Prior to that, the £73m signing had scored just 12 goals and contributed only six assists for the Red Devils, having failed to replicate the stunning form he showcased during his first spell in Germany, after racking up over 100 goal contributions for Dortmund.

On the face of it, landing the once promising forward for a potential fee of just £20m looked like astute business, particularly with Sancho starting strongly in west London after registering three assists in his first three league games for the club.

Remarkably, however, the Man City academy graduate has only registered one more assist in the league since then, while scoring only twice.

Those woes were highlighted by the fact that in Thursday’s win over FC Copenhagen, Sancho registered a shot on target for the first time since Boxing Day, indicating just what a limited threat he has become in a Chelsea shirt.

That rapid decline has led to notable criticism from the likes of John Obi Mikel, with the former Blues hero stating that the Englishman has simply “disappeared” of late:

Those damning remarks emphasise just how poor the £100k-per-week man has been in 2024/25, having been branded with a 4/10 match rating from GOAL’s Peter McVitie during the midweek Conference League clash.

It now looks for all the world that Chelsea have been lumbered with another expensive error, even if the Daily Mail has claimed that Sancho could actually return to his parent club, if the Blues agree to fork out a costly penalty fee.

Either way, whatever happens this summer, this simply isn’t a deal that has worked out, with Sancho sadly heading the way of Sterling, rather than replicating the brilliance of Cole Palmer.

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