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Premier League reaction as Man City win 2-0 at Chelsea on opening weekend Transfer latest: Sterling representatives want Chelsea 'clarity' & Toney exit 'not close' Scottish Premiership: Maeda scores twice as Celtic see off Hibs European football: Real draw on Mbappe's La Liga debut Build-up to Leicester v Tottenham (20: 00 BST) Get Involved: #bbcfootball, via Whats App on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply) This video can not be played I want Raheem Sterling – Maresca Craig Nelson, Ben Collins, Martin Dougan, Holly Bacon & Tyrese King BBC Radio 5 Live Chelsea fan Alex Churchill reacting to Sterling's statement on BBC Radio 5 Live: "It’s idiocy and it's unprofessional. "I think

there were 10 or 11 players that were very disappointed to have been left out

of the squad yesterday. "Micah Richards and Jamie Redknapp were

scathing on TV and I don’t think they were wrong. "I don’t think he’s done himself any favours. I think he’s shot himself in the foot

massively. " Get Involved: #bbcfootball, via Whats App on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply) In a way it shows people that Sterling actually wants to play football and is not just worried about money. .. despite frequent claims to the contrary from Anfield. A lot of players refuse to leave and are just happy taking the money every week for doing little, so fair play to him for seeking clarification. Dave Never been Sterling's biggest fan, but he's clearly a class player. For me, his situation sums up why on earth any top player would even consider joining Chelsea. The club is a mess! If you want a good pay day and to still play at a top level, join the other money boys, Newcastle. Anders I find the criticism of Sterling out of order! Chelsea have a ridiculous squad full of money chasers with limited talent. Sterling is one of the few decent players they have. How can any Chelsea fan anticipate any sort of success from this squad? It's an utter joke. How can anyone even get close to a starting 11 from that ridiculous squad? Chris Raheem Sterling shone for England at Euro 2020 [played in 2021], scoring both of England's goals in the group-stage, but has not added to his 82 international caps since the Qatar World Cup in 2022. He was dropped for the Euro 2024 qualifiers and never made it back into Gareth Southgate's squad for Germany this summer. It remains to be seen whether Sterling will be recalled by interim England manager Lee Carsley. The 29-year-old has gone on record to say he misses playing for his country, but with a hoard of options in his position and a lack of game time at Chelsea, it seems unlikely Sterling will force his way back into England reckoning any time soon. Get Involved: #bbcfootball, via Whats App on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply) Sterling is clearly unhappy and not part of Chelsea’s plans anymore. He should stop being pretentious and modestly leave. We have bags of talent in the squad, all young too.

It’s not an impossible job, just one that needs some rationality. Ryan It seems like I am the only one surprised about Sterling being dropped by Chelsea.

He has been hugely overrated for a long time now and has not lived up to the price tag Chelsea paid for him. Pep is seldom wrong when he sells players, Sterling justifies this. Ebrahim from Nuneaton Raheem Sterling has failed to hit the heights with Chelsea that he enjoyed with Manchester City, where the England forward picked up four Premier League titles, five League Cups and one FA Cup. As a 20-year-old, he arrived at City from Liverpool for £49m in 2015 - making him, at the time, the most expensive English player ever. Towards the end of his time at the club he found opportunities more limited, due to competition with the attacking talent brought in by Pep Guardiola, prompting a £50m switch to Chelsea in July 2022. John Murray Commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live I’m struggling to remember this kind of

thing happening before in exactly this way. They have around 40 first team players and

simply the manager can’t keep everyone happy. Raheem Sterling's performances last season weren’t his

best. I think he's got a bit of thinking to

do over the next week. #bbcfootball, via Whats App on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply) Another spoilt footballer throwing his toys out of the pram. If his performances were better then he'd be in the squad, it's as simple as that! Is he going to retire from international football as well? Pathetic. Marc Raheem Sterling joined Chelsea from Manchester City in July 2022 to become the club’s first major signing in the Todd Boehly era. He arrived for £50m. His time at Stamford Bridge has not quite gone to plan. Last season he scored 10 goals in all competitions and nine the previous year, giving him a total of 19 goals from 81 appearances for Chelsea - a dip from his figures with City, where he scored 131 goals in 339 games. Chelsea 0-2 Man City Stephen Kelly Former Republic of Ireland defender on the Football Daily Podcast For someone like Raheem Sterling, he’s too long in the tooth. Speak to your manager, that’s him

just trying to make a statement, trying to say 'I don’t know what’s going on, the club is a shambles' basically. Realistically, if he was playing to his best

ability, the way we know Raheem Sterling can, he’d probably be in the team. So that’s probably what’s happening. It's hard to take sometimes

and players want to force their way out of a situation. That might be the

case for Raheem, by releasing that statement. But at Chelsea, it’s like an NFL team - the amount of guys in the changing

room must be off the scale, it’s actually ridiculous. It is clear that Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has had plenty to deal with since his appointment in the summer, and the consensus has been that Raheem Sterling's statement was another problem he could have done without in the build-up to Sunday's opening Premier League match at home to reigning champions Manchester City. .. Chelsea 0-2 Man City Co-controlling owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly have spent about £1. 5bn on players since taking over Chelsea just over two years ago, following Roman Abramovich's successful reign. The squad Graham Potter inherited in 2022, after he became Eghbali and Boehly's first managerial appointment, 100 days into their reign, was so big that the dressing room reportedly had to be reconfigured to fit more people in, and players had to change in the halls. Chelsea had to leave Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of their squad for the Champions League knockout stages that campaign even after he had started all the group games because of the size of their squad. And that will be another issue for current boss Enzo Maresca, who will have to name a squad for the Premier League of 25 players (excluding under-21 players), with at least eight of those considered homegrown. Chelsea 0-2 Man City Chelsea have spent about £185m on 11 signings this summer, adding to a squad that was already considered large. Academy products Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah and striker Romelu Lukaku, who cost them £97. 5m three years ago, are all training away from the first team. Chelsea accepted a £33m bid from Atletico Madrid for Gallagher, who captained the club in 24 Premier League games last season. However, he has been unable to complete his move for now after a deal for striker Samu Omorodion to go in the opposite direction collapsed. Chalobah is being linked to several Premier League clubs, while manager Enzo Maresca has told England left-back Ben Chilwell that he is allowed to leave this summer too. Midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka and defender Axel Disasi were among the other players, apart from Raheem Sterling, left out against Manchester City on Sunday. Chelsea 0-2 Man City "We've spent over a billion [pounds] and we've not addressed any of our problems, " was the view of one of the Chelsea fans interviewed outside Stamford Bridge after Sunday's defeat to Manchester City. The consensus, following the 2-0 loss, was that Chelsea still needed a striker and lacked the necessary class of players to rival the Premier League champions. .. This video can not be played Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City: Chelsea fans react to loss Chelsea 0-2 Man City Asmir Begovic Former Chelsea goalkeeper on BBC's Football Daily podcast The situation isn’t sustainable, normally you get into the

last week of the transfer window and you’ve maybe got one or two players [you want or need to sell]. It can create a little bit of unrest within

the squad because players are asking 'what’s happening with so and so? Who else is coming in? What is the squad looking like? '. When you look

at Chelsea, the problem is it’s not just one player. During a game you can

see there’s dislike between each other. As well as [Raheem] Sterling, we have [Conor] Gallagher, we have [Ben] Chilwell, we have [Armando] Broja, we have Kepa

[Arrizabalaga]. These players are

worth millions and everything is hanging on this because it’s going to be so difficult

for them to manage it. All these things now over the next two or

three weeks are going to have to get sorted. It doesn’t

help the squad one bit, the fans are unhappy and unfortunately Chelsea have

gotten themselves into a mess because this never used to happen. There is also plenty more reaction to Raheem Sterling's statement in the latest edition of BBC Sounds' Football Daily podcast, while Mario Melchiot, David James and commentator Ian Dennis have been among those to comment on the subject on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast this morning. .. . Chelsea 0-2 Man City Here is a round-up of more reaction to Raheem Sterling's statement: Pat Nevin, who played for Chelsea from 1983 to 1988: "What this situation with Raheem Sterling has done is make him possibly cheaper to buy. He won't be £100m or £50m. He will be a lot less than that as a club can say they are buying 'damaged goods'. "Does it mean he will earn less money? Well, the top words of the statement were 'Raheem Sterling is contracted to Chelsea Football club for the next three years'. "That is code for 'I am owed that money and I'm not giving it up'. I think this has been clever by the player and his people. " Jamie Redknapp, speaking on Sky Sports, on Chelsea's bloated squad: "Enzo Maresca's biggest problem is trying to keep everyone happy. It is virtually impossible. "Maresca will see so many unhappy faces. The best teams in the world work on 24 or 25 players in the squad. How or why did they think they can reinvent football? They are giving the manager an impossible job. " Read more reaction here. Chelsea 0-2 Man City Former England defender Micah Richards said that Raheem Sterling had let his Chelsea team-mates down by going public with his views before Sunday's game against Manchester City. Chelsea went on to lose 2-0 at home to the Premier League champions. Richards added: "Raheem and his team know what they are doing. They are trying to make noise. "Putting that statement out before the game is not good enough. That will not help your team-mates or your case of getting back in the team. "The manager has not picked him and he needs to deal with it. " Chelsea 0-2 Man City This video can not be played Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says he still wants Raheem Sterling Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said that it was a "technical decision" after being asked about his omission of Raheem Sterling before Sunday's defeat to Manchester City. "The manager has to make some decisions, " he told Sky Sports. "Sometimes players don't like it, that's normal. Just a technical decision, no more than that. " Maresca maintained his line in his post-match news conference, but added: "I want Raheem Sterling but I want all the 30 players that we have, but there is no space for all of them, so for some of them they are to leave. " #bbcfootball, via Whats App on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply) So what do you think? Was Raheem Sterling right to sanction the release of that statement from his representatives following his omission from Chelsea's squad on Sunday? Click thumbs up if you believe he was right, or thumbs down if he was wrong. Get in touch with your views on the statement, whether you believe Sterling has a future at Chelsea or could do a job at another top Premier League club, should the Blues decide to sell him. Contact us via text, Whats App or X using the details above and remember to include your name. Thanks. Chelsea 0-2 Man City Right, as promised, let's have a look at that statement from Raheem Sterling's representatives and the reaction to it. This is what was released by the Sterling "camp" after the England winger was not included in Chelsea's squad for Sunday's match against Manchester City: "He returned to England two weeks early to conduct individual training, and has had a positive pre-season under the new coach [Enzo Maresca], who he has developed a good working relationship with. "He is committed, as ever, to delivering at the highest level for Chelsea FC and the fans, who he holds in high regard, and given his inclusion in official club pre-match material this week, our expectation was that Raheem would be involved in this weekend’s fixture in some capacity. "As a camp, we have always had positive dialogue with, and assurance from, Chelsea FC in relation to Raheem’s future at the club, so we look forward to gaining clarity on the situation. "Until then, we will continue to support Raheem’s desire to start the new season positively. " Last Updated 18th August 2024 at 18: 41 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. © 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.