It was Friday morning, on the last day of the transfer window, when Edu finally called.
All week, Raheem Sterling had heard whispers of potential interest from north London. Arsenal’s sporting director had discussed Sterling with Mikel Arteta and the rest of the club’s football committee. There were concerns over costs, but no shortage of admiration for Sterling’s talent.
But with Arsenal looking to drive a hard bargain, club-to-club contact between Arsenal and Chelsea only commenced in earnest in the final few hours before the deadline.
Sterling’s circumstances at Chelsea had become untenable. Unlike at Manchester City, where the club had engaged him in open and ongoing dialogue about a potential departure, the situation at Stamford Bridge changed dramatically in the final weeks of the transfer window. Having featured prominently during Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States, he was informed by head coach Enzo Maresca shortly after the club’s final friendly against Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge that he was not in the Italian’s plans for the new campaign.
There had been scepticism, to put it mildly, within the Chelsea hierarchy that Sterling’s production justified the expense of his salary. The club have made a concerted effort to extricate themselves from many of the contracts they handed out during the first summer that followed the takeover, when Todd Boehly operated as interim sporting director. Those deals do not conform to the lower base, highly incentivised salary structure they began to implement in January 2023.
- Join The Athletic’s Arsenal WhatsApp channel for updates throughout the season as James McNicholas, Amy Lawrence, Art de Roche, Jordan Campbell and David Ornstein take you behind the scenes.
After the friendly against Real Madrid on August 7, the dynamic shifted. The struggles of their wingers in that game (including Sterling) crystallised the feeling at Chelsea that urgent upgrades were needed. They moved quickly for Pedro Neto and then for Jadon Sancho when it became clear they could get him on terms they were comfortable with.
When Chelsea kicked off their Premier League campaign against Manchester City, Sterling was not even selected for the matchday squad. He became part of Chelsea’s infamous ‘bomb squad’ — a group of 13 unwanted players asked to train away from the rest of the first team.
Publicly — and in a conversation between the two men at Cobham — Maresca took responsibility for Sterling’s omission. “I’m not saying Raheem is not a good player but I prefer a different kind of winger,” he said in a press conference before Chelsea’s Conference League play-off first leg against Servette.
Sterling, however, was convinced this was a club decision — an attempt to force him out of Stamford Bridge for financial reasons.
He was willing to leave, but only for a club that matched his ambition. Juventus and Napoli expressed interest and there were offers from teams in the Saudi Pro League, but the player was insistent: Saudi Arabia was not an option. At 29, he felt he still had much to offer in European football.
There were exploratory talks with Manchester United over a possible swap with Sancho. Sterling would have been prepared to join — he was a United fan in his youth — but had concerns over the possibility of going from an unstable environment to join a new regime still finding its feet, with a manager whose position looked somewhat perilous. United also had financial fair play considerations, and were worried about making the numbers work.
Arsenal, however, appeared the perfect fit: a club with a unified leadership, and a defined way of playing. He knew several players well — Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City, Kai Havertz and Jorginho from Chelsea, and Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice through England.
Crucially, Sterling has an excellent relationship with Arteta, who served as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City. Arteta did a lot of one-to-one coaching with Sterling, who credits the Spaniard with helping propel him to the most prolific period of his career.
Chelsea, in a sub-optimal negotiating position with the transfer deadline looming, acquiesced to Sterling’s preferences. Arsenal swept in late and secured him on a season-long loan, with a wage contribution that equates to a fraction of his salary at Stamford Bridge.
Simultaneously, Arsenal agreed the loan of Reiss Nelson to Fulham. Arsenal had balanced the books and gained an experienced player hugely admired by Arteta.
It has been a relatively slow start to life at Arsenal for Sterling — which is understandable, given he did not feature for Chelsea at the season’s outset. He has played just 123 Premier League minutes, starting two of the seven league games since he joined the club. Frustratingly, his loan status means he is not eligible to face his parent club this weekend.
Arsenal’s red cards have impacted Sterling, too. He did not get off the bench at the Etihad, when Arsenal were down to 10 men and focused on defence rather than attack. When William Saliba was sent off during the first half against Bournemouth, Arteta sacrificed Sterling to bring on Jakub Kiwior and bolster the back line.
Nevertheless, his absence from recent fixtures has been notable. He played 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup tie at Preston North End but did not feature in the Liverpool match that preceded it, nor the games against Newcastle United and Inter Milan that have followed. The latter two are particularly striking, as they were situations where Arsenal were chasing the game.
“That’s a decision of mine, nothing to do with ‘Raz’,” Arteta said on Friday, adding that Sterling has a big role to play this season. “If somebody got it wrong, it was me. It’s the feeling that you have, the understanding of how you can damage the opponent and picking a different player, a different profile for that moment.”
Creating chances from open play has not come easily to Arsenal of late. On paper at least, Sterling would appear to offer their attack something different. Yet, for now at least, Arteta appears to have other players higher up the pecking order — including 17-year-old prodigy Ethan Nwaneri.
Part of the issue is that Sterling is in direct competition with Saka, the one Arsenal player who seems to play every minute of every game.
Sterling is philosophical about his omission. Faced with the prospect of no game time whatsoever at Chelsea, his situation has unquestionably improved.
He had a very honest, open conversation with Arteta prior to joining, in which the Arsenal manager made it plain that Sterling would have to earn his place. Sterling’s response was that he would give everything, and be ready when the manager needed him.
It was enough to convince Arteta. “After 10 seconds, I knew already before the next questions that we needed him here,” said the Arsenal manager in September.
Sterling is enjoying life at Arsenal. The move was a best-case scenario for him: he has joined an elite club with a positive environment. From the first training session, Sterling was struck by how high the standards were. He is working with a coach he trusts. What’s more, he has not had to uproot his family — in fact, his son was already part of Arsenal’s academy.
As one of the more experienced players in the squad, he is relishing the opportunity to work alongside Arsenal’s younger players. Sterling is a relaxed presence around the training ground, willing to engage with academy players and established internationals alike.
He still hopes to return to the England squad, but recognises the attacking positions are highly competitive. The impending arrival of Thomas Tuchel could be a positive for Sterling — the German was manager when Chelsea paid £47.5million ($61.4m) to sign him in July 2022. He needs to be playing regular football first.
That is the immediate focus. None of the relevant parties have yet given much consideration to what happens when Sterling’s one-year loan expires. His lucrative contract with Chelsea runs until 2027, and another compromise will likely be required to move him on permanently.
Before that, Sterling is waiting for more opportunities at Arsenal. If his role is to support the squad he is willing to embrace it — it’s a lot better than no game time and training with the under-21s.
The season is long, and full of twists and turns. A player of Sterling’s pedigree and experience knows that his moment may come. His job is simply to be ready.
(Top photo: Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
