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Chelsea forward, Raheem Sterling, has opened up about the club’s struggles this season in an exclusive interview with SkySports ahead of the final five games of the season. The England forward has had an extremely difficult debut season at Stamford Bridge, both on a personal and collective basis, but is determined to put things right next season.
The Ex-Manchester City man made a shock move to London in the summer, citing his desire for regular minutes and a new challenge after playing a key role in Manchester City’s dominance under Pep Guardiola. Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, things couldn’t have gone much worse this season with his side lingering in 11th place in the Premier League table.
On a personal level, Sterling’s form has also been poor. He has only found the back of the net on seven occasions in all competitions this season, and although he has faced injury problems, it is comfortably his worst return since his debut season as an 18-year-old in 2012/13. After the club spent £50m on him in the summer, Sterling is aware that these numbers will need to improve next year under a new manager.
A great learning curve
Talking about his difficult debut season at Chelsea and his hopes for next season, with the Blues being tipped for a bounce back year, Sterling said:
“Personally, this is one of the lowest points in my career. This might sound a bit weird, but it is also a great learning curve.
It’s been pretty smooth sailing winning, winning and winning but sometimes in life stuff gets thrown at you and it is a challenge that I’m looking forward to, hitting it head-on and not trying to hide from it. It will only make me stronger and also the group stronger. These challenges, not in just football but life as well, it’s crucial to how we deal with things and how we kick on after.”
Raheem Sterling believes the next manager should have the final say on everything. pic.twitter.com/Glv1OlHvKm
— Frank Khalid OBE (@FrankKhalidUK) May 5, 2023
Going from winning several trophies year in, year out at Manchester City to a trophyless season and a mid-table finish in his first season away from Manchester City is a bitter pill to swallow but it does give him the opportunity to get the bit between his teeth ahead of next season. To succeed next year, though, the club will need to get their next managerial appointment right. On that, Sterling said:
“I’m not one to tell the club what to do but from what I can gauge from where I was previously, organisation is the most important thing. Having a manager that has the final say on everything and it being his way with everyone having to follow that.
Successful teams always have a manager that comes in, brings his blueprint and everyone follows. If there are people that don’t follow, then they are not part of the team and that is how brutal it needs to be at a high level.”
The elephant in the room
Arguably the biggest issue at Chelsea is the bloated dressing room after Todd Boehly engaged in a mass spending spree during his first year as the club’s owner. For Sterling, rebalancing the squad should be the priority this summer. He said:
“There’s new ownership, the new manager that came at the start of the season, new players and some players that were meant to leave that didn’t at the time, it’s been an overload of players. It’s hard for any manager to deal with. He hasn’t got the right amount and we have to try and do training sessions that involve everyone because people need to be fit as well.
“It’s difficult but every manager that’s been here has dealt with it as professionally as they can, and they have never been disrespectful to any player here. It’s been a challenge and something that we do definitely need to get sorted because if a manager is here, he wants players who are invested in what the club wants to achieve and what he wants to achieve.”
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