Chelsea’s Premier League season has started like many thought it would, with defeat and a baggage of mess surrounding the club.
But nobody, not even the Chelsea supporters are going to be surprised by this.
Minutes before Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester City on Sunday at Stamford Bridge, Raheem Sterling’s representatives released a statement asking for ‘clarity’ on why he wasn’t picked for the matchday squad.
This was Enzo Maresca’s first game in charge of Chelsea after he replaced Mauricio Pochettino in the dugout.
From Sterling’s perspective, he felt that he would ‘be involved in this weekend’s fixtures in some capacity’.
But with the London club boasting one of the largest squads in Europe, they left out Sterling and he is clearly unhappy about it all.
Michael Owen didn’t hold back on his criticism of the 29-year-old and brutally shutdown his actions, the timing of it and how he went about it all.
In 2022, Sterling made the call to join Chelsea after his trophy-winning success at Manchester City – Pep Guardiola’s side would go on to win the Treble the following season and Sterling finished in the bottom-half with his new club.
The player’s performances have fallen off badly and he can’t have too many excuses that he isn’t featuring for the first team.
Owen made it clear that the timing of the statement being released, minutes before their opening game of the new season, was ‘poor’ and ‘strange’, as he told Premier League Productions (18/08/24 at 7:05 pm).
The former striker also questioned if the other 20-odd players left out of Chelsea’s matchday squad are going to release statements now, as he backed Marseca and ‘believed’ in what he was saying post-match.
Raheem Sterling left out of Chelsea’s squad
“I am sure he did,” responded Owen on Sterling returning back early for pre-season and wanting to be involved against Manchester City.
“I personally think the timing is poor. Obviously, the manager isn’t going to say that. He hasn’t seen the statement. I believe him there. He had bigger things to think of before the game.
“But when it came out, a few minutes before kick-off, I thought it was a strange thing to say. The squad is that big at Chelsea. Did we mention there are about 45 players on the books? There are only 20-odd playing (against Manchester City). Are there 24 other agents writing statements at the same time? It’s ridiculous, really,”
Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea future
Sources have told HITC there is an offer from Saudi Arabia on the table for Sterling amid question marks over his future at the club.
The four-time Premier League winner has scored 19 goals and supplied 12 assists from his 81 matches in all competitions for Chelsea.
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From that sense, he can have no excuses because his performances have been pretty poor, with Chelsea signing Pedro Neto to add more competition to the wide areas – he made his debut by coming on and playing on the left flank against Manchester City.
Whilst Sterling is wrong for his actions, this just further proves the mess the club is in and Mauricio Pochettino’s exit from Chelsea wasn’t all down to him just finishing sixth.
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