Yahoo Sports “Looks like he was onto something” – Sutton backs Maresca over big summer decision
Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton believes Enzo Maresca was “onto something” when he made the decision to freeze Raheem Sterling out.
The Blues were ruthless with a number of players over the summer as they sold Conor Gallagher to Atletico Madrid and removed the likes of Ben Chilwell and Trevoh Chalobah from the first team squad.
Chilwell has actually been reintegrated into first team training, whilst Chalobah sealed a late loan move to Crystal Palace.
Sutton backs Maresca over Sterling decision
Another player to be frozen out was Sterling and whilst many were aware the Blues were looking to move the winger on, few would have thought the club would take such ruthless action.
Sterling had failed to live up to expectations following his £50m move from Manchester City in the summer of 2022, and was booed by Chelsea supporters at times last season.
The 29-year-old featured prominently in pre-season and it seemed he was set for a role under Maresca, only to be left out of the squad for the opening game of the season against City.
Chelsea received a lot of criticism at the time for their actions, with former professionals and pundits not happy with how the club had treated such an experienced player.
It seemed the Blues were going to be stuck with Sterling until January but he sealed a late loan switch to Arsenal which suited all parties.
Sterling isn’t making a huge impact for the Gunners and Sutton has now claimed Maresca was right to get rid of him.
“What is interesting about this is there was a huge kerfuffle, wasn’t there, about him leaving Chelsea and Maresca took a fair bit of flack from some quarters, making that decision to freeze Sterling out,” he told It’s All Kicking Off!
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“Looks like he was onto something.”
Sterling is still a Chelsea player and the Blues will be hoping he gets a decent amount of minutes this season to attract any potential buyers as they look to sell him permanently next summer, and get his huge wages off their books.
