Raheem Sterling’s fall from grace over the past few years has been a surprise to witness.
At Manchester City, the England international was one of the best players in the world, renowned for scoring goals for fun, darting past defenders and being one of Pep Guardiola’s most consistent performers.
However, ever since departing the Etihad Stadium in 2022, Raheem Sterling has largely failed to succeed at both Chelsea and Arsenal.
Guardiola described Sterling’s time at City as “unbelievable” and after his move to Stamford Bridge three years ago, it seemed like he would continue his journey as a world-class winger.
Raheem Sterling in action for Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur
Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Raheem Sterling would regret asking Man City to make him a key player before exit
However, this summer, talkSPORT have reported that Fulham, West Ham United and Crystal Palace are interested in signing Sterling.
Considering the 30-year-old won the Premier League title in 2022, it’s safe to say that his career has nosedived.
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However, one decision Sterling will regret requesting to become one of Manchester City’s main men before his exit, as revealed by BBC Sport journalist Simon Stone — an ask that was rebuffed by Pep Guardiola as he refuses to guarantee any player star status.
Stone revealed: “City didn’t actively want him to leave and would have been happy for him to stay. But he also wanted to be an integral part of a team competing at the highest level. Pep would never guarantee that. Ideally, they would have sold to a non-Premier League club. However, if Chelsea were willing to pay more than anyone else for a player who could have left for nothing in 12 months’ time, financially, it makes sense.”
In his final season, Sterling, who assisted Ilkay Gundogan’s famous equaliser against Aston Villa that clinched the title started 23 games in the league — which shows he was firmly in Pep Guardiola’s plans.
RAHEEM STERLING’S PLAYING TIME IN THE 2021/2022 SEASON STARTS
PREMIER LEAGUE 23
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 5
FA CUP 2
CARABAO CUP 2
While a player of the four-time Premier League winner’s calibre may have wished to play more football, the fact of the matter is that he had the chance to prove his worth in the following campaign. Instead, Sterling chose to join Chelsea for £47.5 million as Manchester City won the treble — with mid-table clubs like Fulham, West Ham and Crystal Palace being the winger’s only options to revive his career.
Raheem Sterling had a heated row with Pep Guardiola in 2021
The Daily Mail published an excerpt from author Martin Perarnau’s book, ‘The Pep Revolution: Inside Manchester City’ that detailed a heated argument between Sterling and Pep Guardiola in 2021 — where the player argued with the manager about being benched ahead of their 5-2 thrashing of Southampton.
Perarnau wrote: “Pep and Raheem Sterling are having words in the manager’s office. Then Sterling’s heading out the door with Pep shouting after him, demanding that the player comes back. He isn’t finished yet.”
“Everyone’s taken aback. Guardiola makes a point of never justifying his choice of line-up. To anyone. And now he’s done just that with Sterling. Today’s run-in has been on the cards for a couple of weeks, ever since Sterling demanded an explanation for his absence from a particular team sheet. Now Pep’s decided to spell out exactly why the Englishman won’t be starting: the team’s finishing isn’t good enough and, after spending weeks tinkering with his attacking line, this is his solution.”
“None of which has gone down well with Sterling, who’s stormed out of the office twice, only to be called back in again. Then, after several more furious exchanges, a clearly livid Sterling exits, leaving Pep sitting alone in his office. With the lights out. Simmering with rage.”
What’s done is done but considering Sterling was a top-class player at Manchester City, the prospect of witnessing him joining one of Fulham, West Ham and Crystal Palace illustrates that he should have slugged it out at the Etihad Stadium instead.