3 months ago
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ENZO MARESCA has made it abundantly clear that Raheem Sterling has no future at Chelsea under his management.
The Blues boss told Sterling that “he knows exactly what to do” amid widespread rumours about the England international leaving Stamford Bridge before Friday’s transfer deadline.
EPA
GettySterling, 29, is being metaphorically frogmarched out of the exit door after being left out of the squad for every Chelsea game so far this season.
Maresca isn’t shying away from the fact he thinks a £325k-a-week forward is surplus to requirements under his footballing philosophy either.
When asked if he had one piece of advice for Sterling, he replied: “Raheem is a fantastic person, a fantastic guy, he trains very well. The only thing is; every manager has different ideas.
“I said in terms of the kind of winger, he is not one I like but it doesn’t mean nothing if he is not a good player. I think the history and numbers speak for Raheem.
“My advice – he knows exactly what he has to do. He doesn’t need my advice.”
Sterling likely does know exactly what he has to do, given that Maresca has explained that the alternative is sticking around and not getting a sniff.
The Italian coach added: “I prefer to be honest with the player, with Raheem, I’ve been exactly the same.
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“The ones who are not involved, they are all players who are not going to be involved and they don’t get any minutes in case they stay.
“I don’t know what happens, when the window closes. We will see who is here and who is not here.
“The only thing I can say is the ones who are going to get minutes are the ones who I think can help us.”
Rumours continue to swirl about Sterling potentially heading to Manchester United in a swap deal that would see Jadon Sancho head the other way.
If that were to happen, Sancho would become Chelsea’s 12th summer arrival – following the likes of Pedro Neto and Joao Felix.
CHELSEA'S BOMB SQUAD
THESE 12 players are being paid a collective sum of £1.22m a WEEK to train away from the first team.
And they have been told that if they don’t leave, they won’t play a single minute this season.
The players and their weekly wages:
Romelu Lukaku – £325,000
Raheem Sterling – £325,000
Ben Chilwell – £200,000
Kepa Arrizabalaga – £150,000
Trevoh Chalobah – £50,000
Armando Broja – £40,000
Deivid Washington – £40,000
David Datro Fofana – £30,000
Harvey Vale – £26,000
Angelo Gabriel – £25,000
Alex Matos – £5,500
Lucas Bergstrom – £3,000
But the possibility of more incomings is not off the table, with a number of deals looking likely to go to the wire on transfer deadline day.
Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Brentford’s Ivan Toney are just two of the number nine targets that have been linked with the Bridge in the dying embers of the window.
Maresca might be comfortable with adding even more talent but you can understand some of the players not feeling quite so secure.
Nicolas Jackson for example, brought in last year for £35 million and after a shaky start he rattled in 17 goals. He should be feeling as strong as dried concrete in his position.
But Maresca pulled in his fiery striker for talks on Tuesday to reassure him – sort of – amid all the speculation that someone could be arriving within the next 36 hours to threaten his place.
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But the bigger concern should be if somehow, some way, Todd Boehly’s insane master-plan brings about success this season.
Finish in the top four. Win a trophy like the FA Cup.
He will then turn around and say: “See, it works” and all of a sudden, other clubs will begin considering copying this mad model to try and compete in the Premier League.
Before you know it, there will be a bigger divide between the top clubs and the rest and this country’s top flight will become something we have been fighting against — a Super League.
The smaller sides and promoted teams will be wiped out by the elite and will end up saying, ‘What’s the point?’
Football as we know it will change, and there will be no going back.
As a neutral, you don’t want to wish failure on a club or a regime, but it’s depressing to think about.
We should almost be looking at it in amazement — the owners have come in with this model and they’ve treated it as if they are buying stocks and shares, not players or human beings.
Boehly has wiped away any sense of sentiment or old-school values from that club and the worrying thing is that he doesn’t seem to care.
Does he even like football?
Read Troy Deeney’s hard-hitting opinion on Boehly’s Chelsea shambles in full.
Or check out all of Troy’s columns on SunSport.
Maresca said: “I had a meeting with Nicolas yesterday but just about the good things; the amount of good things he is doing with us on the pitch.
“Also, I don’t think Nicolas needs a chat. He is our nine. He is our striker at this moment. We are very happy with him.
“The reason why I sat with him yesterday is because I wanted to say how many good things he has done with us since we started, so we are very happy with Nicolas.
“At the moment, that is the only thing we can say.”
Yet even cool-head Maresca will be relieved come 11pm on Friday when the transfer window shuts, although don’t bet against Chelsea taking it long into the night as they search for one more player.
Maresca said: “I think it’s a feeling for all the managers because when the transfer window is open, anything can happen; we can sell players, we can buy players, we can loan players.
“So the moment the transfer window is closed, it is closed for everyone and we can just focus on the squad we have.
“For me, the focus has always been this.”
Maresca trained his team in England before flying out to Switzerland for their Europa Conference League playoff second leg against Servette on Thursday.
The patchy surface at Stade Geneve has raised a few eyebrows.
Maresca said: “I saw the pitch. It doesn’t look a good pitch, to be honest.
But we need to be good and to adapt. Otherwise we’re going to struggle.”
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Chelsea have reportedly made a sensational move to sign Brentford striker Ivan Toney.
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Meanwhile, Saudi club Al Ahli have submitted an initial bid of £55million to Napoli for Chelsea target Victor Osimhen.
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