Former England striker Ian Wright has called out the “confusing” treatment of Three Lions star Raheem Sterling by Chelsea manager Graham Potter.
Sterling joined the Blues from Manchester City over the summer in a £50million deal. However, just over a month after the season started, manager Thomas Tuchel was sacked and replaced by new boss Potter.
Since the former Brighton boss took over at Stamford Bridge, Sterling has scored just twice, with one of those goals coming in the new manager’s first game in charge. Potter has readily rotated his squad, and Wright has asked questions of the manager’s choices.
“It’s one of the confusing things what Graham Potter is doing at the moment,” Wright said on The Kelly and Wrighty Show. “I can’t get my head around it.
“When I did the analysis on [Chelsea’s defeat to Brighton], the full-back area, Brighton just absolutely tore them to shreds because you’ve got [Christian] Pulisic and Sterling who are supposedly meant to come and try to help [Trevoh] Chalobah and [Marc] Cucurella. It wasn’t happening and I couldn’t understand it.
“There’s no way he [Sterling] can be happy playing that role, especially when you look at what he’s done at City, and the team he was playing in, everything was really concentrated on offence for him. It must be really strange and tough for him to go to a new club and have to play in a position like that. I hope they can sort that out soon for him.”
Sterling ended a near-two-month goal drought in midweek, scoring as Chelsea beat Dinamo Zagreb in their final Champions League group game. There had been suggestions the 27-year-old’s World Cup spot might be in jeopardy after that barren run, but former England star Rio Ferdinand has made the case for him starting.
“Sterling starts at the World Cup. Forget going, he starts. Simple as that for me,” Ferdinand told BT Sport after the Zagreb game. “I was delighted for him because I’ve been hearing some outlandish comments about should he even go to the World Cup for England.
“But this guy whatever happens he gets into good areas, he doesn’t shy away when things aren’t going his way, he still always gets himself into positions where he can affect the game and his endeavour is always there, his determination, desire, I mean this is what I love about him.”
Sterling has yet to score a Premier League goal under Potter, but netted twice against Leicester and once against Southampton under Tuchel. He is aiming to score against Arsenal for a third different club, having managed three Premier League goals against them for Liverpool and five while at City.
