Whether Raheem Sterling will be returned to Chelsea has been revealed
Fabrizio Romano has dropped an emphatic update on whether Raheem Sterling will see his loan spell at Arsenal cut short.
Sterling, 30, signed with Arsenal on a season-long loan deal in the latter stages of the summer transfer window. The move appeared to be a no-lose affair for the Gunners, with Arsenal not locked into signing the winger outright and Chelsea subsidising a healthy chunk of his high salary.
However, Sterling has failed to make any meaningful level of impact at the Emirates, with the forward limited to just 426 minutes of action across all competitions.
There have been murmurings of Arsenal being willing to terminate the loan spell in order to make a brand new loan signing in the January window.
Premier League clubs can only loan a maximum of two players from other Premier League sides each season. With goalkeeper Neto brought in from Bournemouth and Sterling from Chelsea, Arsenal cannot sign another loanee from an EPL side unless Neto or Sterling are returned.
What’s more, Bukayo Saka’s hamstring injury could’ve afforded Sterling a chance to shine. However, Saka’s injury has unfortunately coincided with Sterling picking up a knee injury of his own.
How long he’ll be sidelined isn’t yet clear, though manager Mikel Arteta stated on December 23 that Sterling is “going to be out a while.”
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has now provided an update on Sterling’s situation. Per the reporter, Sterling has zero intention of ditching the Gunners part-way through a season in which he strongly believes he can aid their title charge in the coming months.
Romano also stressed Chelsea have no plans to recall Sterling either.
“The intention of the player is not to leave Arsenal in January,” said Romano on his YouTube channel.“Despite having some problems in the sense of not playing on a regular basis like he was hoping to, Raheem Sterling is still convinced that the second half of the season can be important for him at Arsenal.
“Sterling is not planning to leave Arsenal in January, cutting his loan and returning to Chelsea is not part of the plans.
“And I can guarantee also that Chelsea have no plans to recall Sterling.”
Raheem Sterling savaged by Emmanuel Petit
When assessing Sterling’s sub-par loan spell earlier in December, former Arsenal midfielder, Emmanuel Petit, did not hold back.
“Something just doesn’t seem to be right with Raheem Sterling this season,” began the Frenchman who won the double with Arsenal back in 1998. “If you take away his speed, what else does he offer?
“I have the feeling that Sterling is not hungry anymore. I think he thinks that he’s achieved all he needs to achieve in football and this isn’t how it works in top-level professional football.
“I think this is why he’s not performing because he doesn’t want to keep going and he doesn’t have the same ambition as when he was a youngster.”
Latest Arsenal news – Surprise Saka replacement / confirmed transfer targets
In other news, ex-Arsenal defender, Martin Keown, has named who he wants to take Saka’s spot in the starting line-up.
“I don’t know of a player that has created more chances for his colleagues in the Premier League this season, so he [Saka] is obviously going to be a really big miss,” Keown told talkSPORT.
“It’s up to someone to step up, maybe [Ethan] Nwaneri, who has been playing in the [Martin] Odegaard role, maybe he could come in to the front line and give us something different.”
Elsewhere, The Athletic have confirmed Wolves forward, Matheus Cunha, is a transfer target at Arsenal.
The Gunners have been suitably impressed with the Brazilian who took his tally in the Premier League to 10 goals during the Boxing Day victory over Manchester United.
Other high profile attackers in Arsenal’s sights include Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao) and Benjamin Sesko (RB Leipzig).
However, The Athletic concluded a January move for any of that trio is unlikely, with Arsenal expected to make that type of expensive addition in the summer at the earliest.
