Raheem Sterling was the first major singing under the Todd Boehly era in the summer of 2022 when he joined from Manchester City for £50m on an eye watering contract.
Then boss Thomas Tuchel reportedly pushed hard for the England international as he believed the winger could transform Chelsea’s attack.
Fast forward 18 months and it’s fair to say that Sterling’s performances have been underwhelming and he hasn’t delivered in the way the club or the fans expected him to with the former Manchester City star being booed by the fans on occasions this season.
Whilst he has been trusted by Mauricio Pochettino making 31 appearances across all competitions there remains too many inconsistencies in his game which you wouldn’t expect from a player of his experience.
My big frustrations with Sterling have been his poor decision making which was particularly evident in the defeat to Wolves on Christmas eve, the fact he just runs into opposition players, slows the attack down and his body language on the pitch looks questionable at best.
For a player who is one of the highest paid at the club and said upon signing that he came to be the ‘main man’ turning up against the likes of Luton and Burnley and being largely anonymous in most games isn’t cutting it.
Chelsea are at a cross roads this summer in regards to what to do with the 29 year old who will have three years remaining on his contract and did receive a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia at the end of the last season.
With Chelsea having invested large sums on the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke as well as potential stars for the future in Kendry Paez and Angelo Gabriel the time has now come to prioritise the future and help develop these players into the stars the club believe they can be.
Unfortunately Sterling isn’t part of Chelsea’s future and the club should be looking to get what they can for him and get his wages off the books.
