Talk about a shock move! Arsenal have signed left-winger Raheem Sterling on a 1-year loan (no loan fee or obligation/option to buy & paying less than 50% of his wages) from Chelsea. Mikel Arteta’s top attacking target, Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams, proved too hard a deal for the Gunners to complete, so they had to look elsewhere. Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman, Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman & Leroy Sané and Wolverhampton’s Pedro Neto were also in contention. In the end, Edu and Arsenal went the cost-efficient route in an attempt to bolster the attacking options.

The rift between Raheem Sterling and new Chelsea boss, Enzo Maresca, began after the winger was left out of the matchday squad when the Blues faced Manchester City in the season opener. This was after Sterling, who wasn’t involved with England at the EURO’s, had returned to Cobham training center early in preparation for the new season. He then went with Chelsea on their pre-season tour and played a part in all 6 matches., mostly as a substitute. At that point, he was still a player Maresca wanted to keep in the squad. Something changed between the two in the week between the last pre-season match (August 11th) and the season opener (August 18th).

After being left out of the matchday squad, Raheem Sterling and his representatives released a statement saying,

“Raheem Sterling is contracted to Chelsea for the next three years. He returned to England two weeks early to conduct individual training, and has had a positive pre-season under the new coach, who he has developed a good working relationship with. He is committed, as ever, to delivering at the highest level for Chelsea FC and the fans, who he holds in high regard, and given his inclusion in official club pre-match material this week, our expectation was that Raheem would be involved in this weekend’s fixture in some capacity. As a camp, we have always had positive dialogue with, and assurance from, Chelsea FC in relation to Raheem’s future at the club, so we look forward to gaining clarity on the situation. Until then, we will continue to support Raheem’s desire to start the new season positively.”

Enzo Maresca responded after the match saying, “To be honest, I didn’t see the statement. I have nothing to say. It was a tactical decision, no more than that.” Ouch.

Playing a full pre-season only to be frozen out of the first-team can’t be easy for a player as experienced as Raheem Sterling. Complicating matters was Todd Boehly’s insistence on signing as many young, talent-ladened wide-players as possible and Sterling’s massive wages (£325,000/per week).

A team can only field 11 players at a time, so it’s a little curious what Chelsea was going to do with a roster of about 40. Now, many of these players had been signed under the direction of one of the previous Blues managers and were already deemed to be surplus, as the club tried to reduce it’s wage bill and comply with the Premier League’s profit-and-sustainability rules.

Enzo Maresca named 13 players to the ‘bomb squad,’ a mixture of young and experienced players, who were told to leave by the new boss. He went as far as saying, “The ones who are not involved, they are all players who are not going to be involved and they don’t get any minutes in case they stay.” Raheem Sterling looked set for an extended stay on the sideline, until Arsenal and Arteta threw him a life preserver.

The relationship between Mikel Arteta and Raheem Sterling goes back to their time together at Manchester City, when Arteta was an assistant under Pep Guardiola. The pair worked together from 2016-2019, until Arteta left to manage Arsenal. So it’s understandable why the Gunners chose to pursue a late deal for the winger. Sterling has experience playing both flanks, and can fill-in at center-forward in a pinch.

He won’t be a week in, week out starter, but will be given regular minutes and a role within the squad. That’s got to be better than being banished to train with the youth squad at Chelsea or taking a massive payday from the Saudi’s, right? It came down to a simple decision for Raheem Sterling. Did he want to continue playing at a high-level, on a team with title aspirations, or did he want to collect a massive paycheck, while not seeing the pitch?