Have Arsenal made a mistake signing Raheem Sterling?
Arsenal signed Raheem Sterling on loan from Chelsea in the dying hours of Transfer Market Deadline Day, but did we make a late mistake?
The Winger is far from being in his prime form which he achieved before moving to Stamford Bridge, after being at Manchester City for seven years between 2015 and 2022. During his spell at the Etihad he was a constant goal threat and a player to be wary of for all Premier League defences. Whilst at City he found the back of the net 131 times in 339 matches rounding up 73 assists in seven seasons according to Transfer Market which isn’t bad going.
However since he’s become a Blue in the last two years he’s only scored 19 times with a mere 12 assists. If Arsenal are looking for an instant impact in attack and a player who can definitely turn the tables of fortune (not that we’ve got off to a bad start of course), then I fear that the current Sterling is not quite the fit which the Gunners are looking for!
Sterling was a constant fixture of Gareth Southgate’s England team for nearly eight years, until this Summer for the Euros, despite his 82 previous caps for The Three Lions. It’s fair to say that perhaps Sterling isn’t the player he once was for club and country going back four years ago, when he racked up 20 goals during the 2019/20 season. This is something he’s struggled to do at Chelsea recently in over double that time.
Last season he upped his goal tally from the previous year to eight from six and adding one more assist from three to four. Considering Arsenal are looking to finally claim their first Premiership in two decades, they need more than this!
Age can only be on your side for so long, and Sterling isn’t getting any younger whilst currently 29 and approaching his 30s where most players’ careers start to drop off. We’ve seen this with Gabriel Jesus who’s only two years younger and has picked up multiple injuries at Arsenal in the past two years To say the least, Sterling has already started to fall into a patch of decline in his footballing career.
It’s easier said than done to sit here wagging our fingers at Arsenal, telling them who they should and shouldn’t be signing, but just because Sterling was once one of the best players in the World doesn’t mean that he still is now with the stats showing his decline.
Liam Harding
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