Sterling latest victim of never-ending revolution

Winger Raheem Sterling was left out of the Chelsea squad to play Manchester City

- RICHARD JOLLY

Since Sergio Aguero's heyday, two players have delivered 30 goals in a season for Manchester City. As one darted between two defenders to open the scoring for the champions at Stamford Bridge, it may have seemed like Clearlake Capital’s decision to raid the Etihad Stadium in 2022 had paid a rich dividend. As a footballer who has moved between Chelsea and City burst forward to curl in a long-range shot to double that advantage, Todd Boehly got to his feet: not to celebrate, but to leave. To some disbelief, the scorer of the second was the distinctly unprolific Mateo Kovacic. With a certain inevitability, the breakthrough came from Erling Haaland. Meanwhile, the previous man to earn entry to City’s 30 club was nowhere to be seen.

Nowadays Raheem Sterling finds himself in a different kind of group: the Chelsea non-persons. They are the exiles, the unwanted, the abandoned. Romelu Lukaku was the club-record signing, Kepa Arrizabalaga the most expensive goalkeeper in history, Ben Chilwell the vice captain, Conor Gallagher the local favourite. Sterling was the flagship signing at the start of a new era. He has not even proved the best wide attacker Chelsea have signed from City in the last two years – that title certainly resides with Cole Palmer – but he was Footballer of the Year in 2019. Five years later, in what should still be his prime, he was not deemed in the top 20 at Chelsea. And if they famously have a lot to choose from, it still represented a slight.