Raheem
Sterling now looks set to follow Conor Gallagher out of Chelsea's bloated
squad after he missed Sunday's opening-weekend defeat by Man City and new
arrival Pedro Neto took his No 7 shirt.
The four-time Premier League winner only joined Chelsea two years ago as a
marquee arrival from Man City, but has now been frozen out at Stamford
Bridge with manager Enzo Maresca saying he "prefers a different kind of
winger".
That has not impressed Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson, who believes Sterling
should be staying at Stamford Bridge - and believes anyone "with a pair of
shin-pads" has a chance of being signed by the Blues on current form.
Chelsea need Sterling - something's not
right
I find the Raheem Sterling one a real strange one. Raheem played in America
and did well in pre-season. Raheem's been around a long time to read the
situation and then all of a sudden, before the Man City game, he's not
wanted anymore.
Maresca needs Sterling - he's one of their better players. He's not been
great for Chelsea, but you're getting rid of someone better than a lot of
other players in that squad.
It's not a good start so far. It's like a soap opera and that's the problem.
It doesn't look good. Pochettino's walked away from a big club. In the end,
he couldn't wait to get out of Chelsea. Something's not right.
There's a lot going on at Chelsea and the manager's got to hit the ground
running. If he doesn't, the fans will soon get upset.
Raheem's got young kids. People forget about this. You hear people say:
"He's on £300,000 a week, he'll be alright." But he's still got kids.
If he's not in London, he'll have to move his kids or live away from them.
It could be a rushed one. He's not got long now before the window closes.
The [Ben] Chilwell one, I'm not shocked. He hasn't been on the pitch long
enough.
What did Maresca say about Sterling?
"I'm not saying Raheem is not a good player but I prefer a different kind of
winger.
"They have a 20-year contract? I don't care. It's not my job.
"I am here to take decisions and think the best for us. I am not thinking
about how many years are on the contracts.
"I'm working with 21, 22 players. I'm not working with 42, 43 players.
"I can see you like to say we have 43 players but more than 15 players are
training apart. They are not working with me every day. I don't see them.
It's not a mess like it looks from outside."
'Class' Gallagher should have stayed too
Conor Gallagher is class. The people looking after him have been class. He's
been advised in the right way and looked after well. He's conducted himself
well.
The agents haven't pushed for the deal. Fair play to him and his family.
They've set an example of how things should be done. Why are Chelsea getting
rid of him? He played every game last season and he's better than what
they've got already.
He's one of their own and people need to start understanding that. It's not
baseball. I don't mean that in a horrible way but, in America, you can
support a team and then get up the next morning and your team is on the
other side of the country.
It's not like that here. Fans appreciate players coming through, the hard
work from signing at eight years of age and making your debut at 19, 20.
Felix is exciting, but he has to start
well
I am excited. He's a good player, he's intelligent. But it was only two
years ago he was leaving and wanting to go to Barcelona. It didn't work out
at Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have got rid of him. If he can hit the
ground running, then he's a top player, but he's got to work.
He's got to be playing around good footballers. People like Cole Palmer will
love playing with him - they'll bounce off each other. But the Premier
League is ruthless. It'll be interesting to see how he copes.
Why are Chelsea signing everyone?
At the moment, if you've got a pair of shin-pads then you've got a chance of
being signed by Chelsea. That's not right. With these seven-year
contracts... no one can tell me how good someone's going to be in six years.
Football's about now. Chelsea fans expect to win trophies and at the moment
they're a million miles away from winning the Premier League. If they got in
the top four, Maresca's looking at Manager of the Year.
Winning Conference League would help mask
issues
Every Chelsea fan will want to win this one. They'll be the first team to
win all the European trophies. I hope the manager sees that. This is a big
tournament.
If you're not doing well in the league, you've got this tournament to fall
back on. I expect Chelsea to go very deep, if they want to. But they will
want to finish in the top four.
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