"It’s a perfect fit for myself to be at a football club like this," Raheem Sterling said after joining Arsenal on loan from Chelsea on the final day of the 2024 summer transfer window. At the time, it wasn't easy to disagree. After all, Sterling was reuniting with former Manchester City assistant Mikel Arteta, who helped Pep Guardiola bring the very best out of the winger at the Etihad Stadium between 2017 and 2019.
Arteta has also followed a similar tactical blueprint to Guardiola since his appointment as Arsenal head coach, so it felt like the ideal move for Sterling to rediscover his best form after two largely frustrating seasons at Chelsea. To quote the infamous Gary Neville meme: "This was the no-brainer. This was the banker, this was the one that couldn't fail."
But fail it has, and spectacularly so. We are now past the midway point of the 2024-25 season, and Sterling has been restricted to just seven starts for Arsenal. He's only scored once, in a Carabao Cup third-round win over Bolton Wanderers, and has a solitary goal contribution to his name in the Premier League.
As such, it's already safe to say that Sterling has no future at Arsenal, or indeed Chelsea. Sterling's days in the English top flight could well be numbered, too, because, in his current state, the 30-year-old is simply not good enough to mix it at the very highest level.
