Raheem Sterling had a distinctly underwhelming 2021/22 campaign, even if on paper it appeared just fine.
In 47 appearances for Manchester City – 15 coming from the bench as Pep Guardiola typically rotated his striking options – the flying winger scored 17 times and created nine assists.
Moreover, it was a season of landmarks, with a century of Premier League goals reached, while a beautifully flighted effort in the Champions League placed him among the top ten of City’s all-time goal-scorers. In December, there was even a Premier League Player of the Month merit.
Granted there had been better returns from Sterling’s seven years at the Etihad but still these stats could easily hoodwink casual observers into believing that all was well with the England international, that his City career was thriving as per.
Match-going fans however knew the reverse to be true. Aside from a decent spell leading into Christmas, Sterling’s performances were largely lacklustre as he seemingly went through the motions.
In the background meanwhile an unresolved contract dispute rumbled on and pertinently he was only selected for five of City’s 12 Champions League outings.
That summer, peeved at having fallen down the pecking order and later claiming he had been ‘treated a certain way’ at City, Sterling moved on to Chelsea for a fee of £47.5m.
Potentially this represented a new start for the player whose star was beginning to fade, a chance to revive a standing in the game that had him viewed as a key, match-winning component of Gareth Southgate’s England squad and for so long a pivotal presence in a team that gobbled up silverware by the bucketful.
Returning to his native London therefore was very possibly the perfect transfer at the perfect time for an outstanding talent who had unquestionably begun to lose his way.
Alas, also unquestionably, it hasn’t worked out for Sterling in the capital, a brief tenure so far that started brightly with three goals in five but has since fallen off a cliff amidst a crisis at the club that has seen them completely disappear from the Premier League winner odds.
With the Blues toiling, Thomas Tuchel – the manager who insisted Sterling was his number one transfer priority – lasted a little over a month and since Graham Potter’s arrival the 28-year-old has been deployed in a number of different roles, including a disastrous stint at right wing-back that was swiftly revised.
When used up front, Sterling has been ineffective, at times anonymous and with his situation not helped by an ongoing hamstring problem, a formerly reliable goal-scorer has converted every 284 minutes in a Chelsea jersey.
It is a plight that makes you wonder if the player regrets his decision to leave East Manchester, a place where he was regularly serviced by some of the best midfielders in Premier League history, a place where he shone, for all his prolonged drop-offs in form.
This January, Chelsea purchased Mykhailo Mudryk for a hefty sum, a wide-man very much in Sterling’s mould. This January, rumours were rife that the club were willing to listen to offers, to sell their recent recruit at a knockdown fee.
Indeed, so substantial has been Raheem Sterling’s decline that it’s tempting to speculate that Gareth Southgate was privately relieved when the winger’s injury woes ruled him out of this week’s Euro qualifiers. Or else, there would have been a difficult decision to make.
Can Sterling turn this all around? Right now, the odds seem against him but of course he has the ability to do so, that burst of pace and a knack for scoring important goals still surely in his armoury.
For his sake, let’s hope this transpires. Because otherwise he will always be known as the difference-maker who was consistently superb at the highest echelon of the English game. Until he very much wasn’t.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
