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By Riath Al-Samarrai Published: 04: 47 AEST, 15 September 2024 | Updated: 05: 55 AEST, 15 September 2024 4 View comments It felt a little symbolic on Thursday morning that a bulletin around Mikel Arteta’s new contract at Arsenal was followed so closely by news of Manchester City’s trial date. Such are the ebbs and flows of footballing tides, one club finds itself surfing a big wave while another nervously watches the ever-shrinking circles of a dorsal fin. For now, we are staring at a moment of promise for Arsenal, whose long-term outlook is tempered only slightly by a personnel crisis in the immediate future. With no Declan Rice for the north London derby on Sunday and Martin Odegaard absent for a few weeks longer, this has the potential to be a sticky patch for Arteta. An ebb, maybe. But there’s a buzz within Arsenal about their place in the world. An excitement about their trajectory and how circumstances elsewhere might soon help them, which sits with a hardening sense that they have the right man in charge of the right men. And one of those men is more interesting than most, of course. Ebbs and flows? Raheem Sterling has known a few. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will be looking to get the best out of loan signing Raheem Sterling Chelsea are paying in the region of £7. 5million in wages for Sterling to play for a rival I was chatting about him this week with folk in and around the club. We won’t know until roughly an hour before kick-off if he’s going to play against Tottenham, but the misfortune of others could work to his benefit. Quite possibly it will mean a starting role for a man in dire need of a clean slate. Naturally, every new signing is a ray of hope until he isn’t. But Arsenal are increasingly enthusiastic, thrilled even, about what they’ve seen so far from Sterling — sharp in training, great physical shape, a steady source of good touches for the video packages. There’s been that sort of chatter about a man who has been understated in his manner around the place; friendly but pretty quiet. Far more often than not, that’s been his way, contrary to a few misconceptions over the years. Those who know him well talk of someone who can be sulky on occasion and has succumbed to questionable advice on others, but say he is fundamentally a good guy and a good pro. That’s also been the dominant observation at London Colney since he arrived after dark on deadline day. The remainder of the season will tell us how this move works out. Ditto how it will reflect on the muddled thinkers of Chelsea, who are paying in the region of £7. 5million in wages for Sterling to play for a rival. That’s a special kind of madness. Arsenal’s exposure to risk is tiny by comparison — they are contributing less than half of his £325, 000-a-week salary and haven’t paid a penny in loan fees. Sterling wasn’t a target they chased but when he was presented as an option on those terms, Arteta only saw the upside. The way he tells it, the decision took 10 seconds to make.   It could prove an outright dud or it could be the bargain of the summer, but it says everything about the scale of Sterling’s decline and his dormant talents that both options sit on the same table. Doubtless Arsenal have been seduced by a prime-age player who was smoking hot as recently as 2021 and, at his best, could puncture defences from either wing, No 10 and stand in as a striker. The worry is he hasn’t looked like that for an awfully long time, or in any sustained pattern since he left Manchester City for Chelsea 24 months ago. His career has reeked of inertia. Has any elite England international this century hit the wall harder without the burden of major injuries? It’s hard to think of one. Sterling's move could end up resembling that of Kai Havertz, who eventually excelled for Arsenal Sterling's loan switch to Arsenal represents his final opportunity at a big club The test is for Sterling to revive himself, because this loan away from the Chelsea asylum is a gift and one that carries the distinct appearance of a last chance. He will be 30 in December, and most likely on his fourth and final stop on his tour of major clubs — if he allows this opportunity to go the way of his period at Chelsea, the next rescue committee won’t look so pretty. I strongly hope this venture ends up resembling the case of Kai Havertz. In the second half of last season he was excellent and has carried his form into the start of this campaign — he is proof that there is life after falling short at Chelsea. He is also proof of Arteta’s healing hands. Of his ability to make good players very good or very good players excellent. His coaching has been instrumental in finessing a player whose versatility once seemed to count against him, with his confidence restored one frayed layer at a time. It is precisely what Sterling needs. After the mixed messages of five managers at Stamford Bridge, learning one system only to pivot with each new breeze, in roles ranging from left back to right wing to the author of disgruntled pre-match statements, he returns to a coach he knows. A coach he trusts. A coach who trusts him. Arteta’s impact on Sterling at City has been documented elsewhere this week. It was the Spaniard, in his previous life as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, who converted a flaky finisher into one of the team’s most prolific scorers. He gave time to him in those extra sessions when others had left the field, walked him through where to be in the box and when, and the results were tremendous. Perhaps Sterling was never as great as his hype, but for a time he was solid value for 30-plus league games in six straight seasons in a Guardiola attack. That his very best was accessed through those extracurricular sessions with Arteta is a reason to think his departure might trigger yet another inquest at Chelsea. I have argued previously in this space that managers who fail at Chelsea warrant something of a free pass. The club is currently a hive for failure. But I wouldn’t be so generous with players like Sterling, who had more than enough minutes to shine at Stamford Bridge. He simply didn’t take the chance. And yet it is overwhelmingly tempting to side with Arteta’s assessment of the summer’s most fascinating transfer. ‘After 10 seconds, I knew that we needed him here, ’ Arteta said on Friday. ‘You can feel it walking through the door — we are better with him. He’s going to make us better. ’ Arteta has often shown a fondness for exaggeration, but those words suggest he is well aware that blowing smoke up Sterling’s backside could be the first step on the road to restoration. Of course, smoke and hot air are not so different and it is up to Sterling to show he is still worth the fuss. If he does, he will build on a mountain of existing evidence by proving the wisdom of one London club and the stupidity of another. Liverpool must not lose Trent Alexander-Arnold It is very important for Liverpool that they manage to keep hold of Trent Alexander-Arnold On a night belonging to Harry Kane, it was Trent Alexander-Arnold who produced the most special moment during England’s win over Finland this week. Alas, the television replays focused more on Eberechi Eze missing the finish than the curving, dipping delivery off the outside of Alexander-Arnold’s boot, which swerved between two centre halves and landed flush in his path from 40 yards away. Genius can show itself in many ways and he moved that ball like Ronnie O’Sullivan. It would be a shame if Liverpool lose Mo Salah or Virgil van Dijk to lapsed contracts this summer but Alexander-Arnold is the one they most need to keep. Cristiano Ronaldo's criticism of Erik ten Hag proves popular  Cristiano Ronaldo's criticism of Erik ten Hag was popular with Manchester United supporters Cristiano Ronaldo hit a popular note with Manchester United fans by piling into Erik ten Hag’s admission that the club is a long way from contending for Premier League and Champions League titles. Whether it was smart for Ronaldo of 2024 to invite a conversation about the line between confidence and delusion is another matter entirely.   Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group