After weeks of speculation, Raheem Sterling has indeed made a move away from Chelsea. But instead of joining Manchester United in a swap deal for Jadon Sancho, the winger is heading to rivals Arsenal on loan, joining Kai Havertz as the latest talented attacker to make the London switch.
So far things have worked out for Havertz, who turned his career around in the second half of the season for Arsenal, and there is reason to believe that Sterling can benefit significantly from a switch to the best club in London right now.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was previously tight-lipped about the prospect of reuniting with Sterling, but we all should have known better than the sneakiest coach in the game had a trick up his sleeve.
See, Sterling was a legitimate 20-goal winger at Manchester City, breaking out from promising talent at Liverpool to legitimate world-class superstar at the Etihad, where he was a key secondary scorer and creator alongside Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne, respectively.
Sterling was deemed a surplus to requirements by Chelsea, and, truth be told, he should have never been signed by the Blues, undergoing a youth-centered blow-up project under experimenting owner Todd Boehly.
The Chelsea project is actually proceeding positively despite the negativity in the media and poor results in the table, but it is proceeding without Sterling, who always fit a Premier League title contender better.
Arsenal are in dogged pursuit of Arteta’s former mentor Pep Guardiola at the top, and Sterling, like Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, is another talented ex-Man City star with a point to prove to the Citizens.
Sterling may have an even bigger point to prove to Chelsea, as the 29-year-old wasn’t quite at his best at Stamford Bridge despite scoring a decent enough 8 goals with 4 assists.
Capable of starting as a left or right winger, Sterling helps Arsenal kill two birds with one transfer, because he can be a top backup to either Gabriel Martinelli or Bukayo Saka, starting without too much a drop-off (especially on Martinelli).
Arsenal needed an experienced winger with versatility and goal-scoring quality to ideally fulfill their biggest depth need, and if they weren’t going to sign a top No. 9 to add 20 goals, then the very least they could do was add an experienced Premier League winger in his theoretical prime with a past history of 20 goals in a season.
Sterling is a cerebral attacking player who loves getting behind the defense and loves to shoot first and ask questions later. As much as he was branded for being to selfish at Chelsea, Sterling does have an 11-assist season in his past and is a competent creator from the wings.
But first and foremost, Sterling is a goal-getter, and, in all honesty, that’s precisely what Arsenal are looking for. They will value his high football IQ, work rate, ability to swap wings, and willingness to spread defenses horizontally and vertically.
Tactically, Sterling is a great fit for Arsenal, and the familiarity with Arteta is another boon. Unless if there is some crazy obligation to buy attached – which is just about impossible to envision – Sterling is a brilliant loan signing for Arsenal who could, at his best, be a piece that tips the balance of the tight title race.
