The winger was the subject of jeers from his own fans again on Sunday, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see a future for him with the Blues
Raheem Sterling is no stranger to feeling the wrath of his own fans, but he reached the lowest ebb of his Chelsea career on Sunday as he became the target of jeers from every corner of Stamford Bridge. The 29-year-old had not covered himself in glory in the FA Cup sixth-round clash with Leicester City, missing a penalty and two more glaring opportunities to score to provoke irrepressible exasperation among the home support, but these were ugly scenes nonetheless.
Approaching the end of his second season in west London, Sterling has been the target of boos semi-regularly for the best part of a year, and even a fine start to the current campaign has failed to dispel the seemingly deep-rooted hostility felt towards him by some sections of the Blues’ support.
To his credit, Sterling – a vastly experienced Premier League and international campaigner who really deserves better – has continued to carry himself with grace and professionalism, but he is running out of time to appease a frustrated fanbase.
Already somewhat persona non grata, Sterling did his status among the Chelsea fanbase no favours with a hapless display against Leicester, and the reaction would have been a whole lot more vitriolic had the Blues not snatched a late 4-2 victory.
First, having won a penalty midway through the first half, he insisted on taking the spot-kick ahead of designated taker Cole Palmer and subsequently side-footed a feeble effort straight at the goalkeeper. Then, later in the opening period, the attacker planted the ball well wide having been sent through on goal by Moises Caicedo.
Lastly, with the scores locked at 2-2 and in a final insult to his own high standards and seemingly to the home support, Sterling again insisted on taking a well-placed set-piece ahead of Palmer, but only succeeded in creating some prime meme material as he somehow ballooned the ball high into the stands from the edge of the Foxes’ box.
That moment proved to be the final straw, as jeers, boos and chants of ‘get him off’ rained down from every corner of Stamford Bridge. His substitution shortly afterwards was greeted with similar hostility.
Sterling showed his grace by shrugging off the abuse to applaud the home support as he trudged from the field, but his manager knows he deserves better. Pochettino has alluded to being miffed by an evident lack of support from some sections of the Chelsea fanbase this season, having been targeted by chants of ‘f*ck off Mauricio’ himself recently, and he called for his player to be backed.
“We need to support him, he’s an amazing player,” he said after the game. “He has more than 10 years experience in the Premier League. Of course I think the contribution was good. He was a little bit unlucky with some actions where he should have scored. But we are a team and we need to be there for everyone.
“Fans are entitled to show their emotion. For us we try to emphasise with our fans not to criticise. They want the best for our team and players. But we are in a project. We need support and to really believe. We are trying to build something.
“We are in a process to build the team. I know really well how to manage. What the fans want is to win the game and that we achieved. What the fans want is to go to Wembley and that we achieved. They need to trust me to manage in the way I think is the best way for the club. We need to respect their opinion as much as they need to respect my decision.”
Sterling still felt compelled to take to social media and apologise, specifically for the spurned spot-kick. “To all the Chelsea fans, apologies for the penalty miss,” he wrote. “I’ll be back 10x times stronger to help the team win and continue to keep fighting for the badge every single day.”
However, for Chelsea fans, actions seemingly speak louder than words. One comment in particular on his Instagram post seemed to resonate, garnering more than 9,000 ‘likes’ and counting.
“Raheem, thanks for the post,” it read. “Being honest, it’s not just the penalty miss. We are all struggling to connect with you. I mean this with the greatest of respect. I don’t feel like you’re setting a good example for the youngsters – not passing square for clear goal-scoring opportunities, and taking the pen and free-kick off CP [Cole Palmer] today. Thanks for writing to us but I feel like on your wages you should be setting a better example and be a role model.”
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However, if Chelsea fans claim their hostility towards Sterling is rooted purely in his decision-making in certain key moments, they are lying. The winger has long had a complex relationship with football fans nationwide, having been painted as a glory-chasing and greedy by the tabloid press from a young age as he left Liverpool to join Manchester City when he was just 20. He was more than vindicated in that decision, winning countless trophies and departing as the club’s second-highest ever goal-scorer, despite nominally being a winger. He is second only to the great Lionel Messi when it comes to goal contributions under Guardiola’s management.
Sterling’s association with two of Chelsea’s biggest rivals in the modern era probably hasn’t done him any favours in the minds of Blues supporters either; nor, ironically, did his decision to join a third top-six Premier League club of his career when he moved to Chelsea in 2022, only contributing to his reputation as something of a mercenary.
Then, of course, there is the fact Sterling was racially abused at Stamford Bridge during his time as City player in 2018, resulting in one fan being given a lifetime ban and five others being suspended from attending games. Upon joining the Blues, Sterling insisted he couldn’t “let an incident from individuals change my perception of the club”. However, given the tribal nature of football fandom, it is impossible to say whether the entirety of the fanbase does not still harbour some resentment towards Sterling for his involvement in that incident, even as the obvious victim.
His divisiveness has been reflected on the international stage, too, as he oscillates between being hero and villain for England fans. After the extraordinary failure of Euro 2016, he became the scapegoat, and his inclusion in the starting line-up at Euro 2020 was questioned before he emerged as the Three Lions’ key player on their run to the final on home soil. Less than three years later, aged just 29, he finds himself in the international wilderness with very few calls for him to earn a recall to Gareth Southgate’s squad.
Sterling’s dismal FA Cup performance was, though, more evidence of a longstanding frustration with him as a player; he is so often a binary footballer – performing either amazingly or utterly terribly, with more or less no middle ground. Although they never resorted to boos, the forward was more than capable of frustrating the hell out of fans at both Liverpool and City, regardless of the countless moments of ecstasy he provided.
Given that notoriety, it’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that some Chelsea fans let their emotions get the better of them on Sunday as Sterling – the club’s highest-paid player on £300,000 ($381,000) per week – spurned three glorious opportunities, which was – ironically – most likely in his haste to get back into form and get them back onside.
Something he cannot change, though, is that he is indelibly linked to the worst season in Chelsea’s modern history after the monumental failure of 2022-23. Amid the gloom the west Londoners have found themselves under for the past year, the winger is one of few senior relics of a squad that was overhauled in the summer, having decided to stay after an underwhelming debut campaign on a personal level. But unlike Thiago Silva, Reece James and Ben Chilwell, he cannot lean on past glories in the blue shirt to command favour with the fans.
Despite the hostility aimed in his direction, Sterling has actually been among Chelsea’s most effective attacking performers this season and last. Indeed, even amid his personal nightmare against Leicester, he still popped up with an assist for Palmer to make it 2-0.
He began the campaign particularly strongly, standing out amid the Blues’ indifferent start to life under Pochettino and oozing confidence as he looked back to his old self, terrorising defenders down the left flank and topping GOAL’s Chelsea Player of the Year power rankings at one stage.
Although his contributions have dried up somewhat of late (he has just one league goal since November), Sterling still has a creditable 18 combined goals and assists to his name with two months still to go until the end of the season. But football is a fickle business, and he will be seen to be falling short of the ridiculously high standards he set at Man City.
It feels an age since Sterling’s £47.5 million ($60m) capture was hailed as a marquee signing for Chelsea’s Todd Boehly-led transfer negotiators back in 2022, and after close to a year of regularly being booed by his own supporters, it is beginning to feel as though there is no way back.
The player himself may not see it that way, though. It has been reported that he is determined to snub any approach from Saudi Arabia and that – despite everything – he is happy in west London as he seeks to win over the Stamford Bridge faithful.
However, Chelsea may take the decision out of his hands if they find themselves in a position where they need to sell players to fall in line with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), as they would surely be keen to shift his £300,000-per-week wages.
Sterling could find himself at a crossroads this summer, then, with few clubs able to afford that salary and his performances not currently justifying a potentially lofty asking price with more than two years left on his contract. If he truly wants to stay, then he will be fighting for his future at the club as well as to silence the boo boys in the coming months.
