Chelsea’s ridiculous, and largely without a plan spending, since Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital Group took over at Stamford Bridge has actually resulted in some victories this season, but with an ever growing bomb squad of players not in Enzo Maresca’s plans, Arsenal were one of the sides who looked to capitalise on that and bolster our own ranks with a bit of their talent.
In our case, it was manager Mikel Arteta’s former Manchester City colleague and England international Raheem Sterling.
The 30 year old, 82 capped, attacker was a serial winner during his spell at the Etihad Stadium but his own form suffered at Chelsea given the managerial and tactical changes they were beset by, and he moved to us on loan at the start of the campaign having fallen out of favour.
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It was expected that he would be a key player for Arteta, but as we head towards the New Year he has only made ten appearances so far across all competitions, and six of those appearances have been from the substitutes bench. With such an unexpected lack of game minutes, naturally questions are being asked about whether or not something has gone on behind the scenes and that speculation is growing, with some suggesting that the player intended to cut his loan spell short in January on the back of it.
However, more recent reports have disputed that outcome, claiming that whilst he is unhappy with his game time, Sterling is more than happy to be patient and wait for a better chance to come his way, and even though he has not even featured so far this month, he accepts the current position given all of the open, and honest, chats that have been held with the manager as he has been assured that he remains an important part of his plans.
Even Arteta has addressed the speculation now, stating that Sterling would have already been more involved had his own hand on selections and substitutions not been forced owing to injuries and suspensions, so he had massive ‘sympathy’ for where Sterling has found himself in the first half of the campaign.
Again referencing their numerous, and many, conversations on selections, the gaffer said he had been transparent because he knew Sterling had settled into the club nicely, was getting on well with the squad and was desperate to play, but his focus particularly on substitutes, was on avoiding injuries and managing minutes where he could rather than ‘tactical reasons’.
Whilst that should mean Sterling will get far more game time in the coming weeks, it will also lead some fans to look at our Premier League placing and wonder why Arteta is prioritising ‘potential’ injuries over tactical point winning decisions.
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