- 8 hours ago
Raheem Sterling's agent calls out Fabrizio Romano
Raheem Sterling's agent Kelly Hogarth has dismissed speculation from transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano that the England winger's future at Chelsea is in doubt.
Romano claimed that Sterling's future was "open" ahead of the summer transfer window in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, but when the platform tweeted his article, Hogarth quoted it with a shutdown.
"False," Hogarth wrote. "Sterling has expressed NO discontent with CFC & having committed his long-term future to the new ownership this summer, there is to be no review of his position in the upcoming transfer window.
"He very much looks forward to building upon the success of previous seasons."
READ: Chelsea want to LOWER wage bill and REDUCE contracts
Sterling joined Chelsea from Manchester City in a £47.5 million transfer from Manchester City last summer, but he has struggled to recreate his Etihad form at Stamford Bridge.
Raheem Sterling has already swapped his new Chelsea jersey for another team's one 😂
(🎥: @edou_mendy_) pic.twitter.com/xDBh5YiD1v— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) July 14, 2022
Sterling, a four-time Premier League winner with City, has seen his production go down from 13 goals and six assists in 30 games last season to four and two from 18 in each column this.
In Sterling's defence, he seems to have joined a muddled project at Chelsea, with 16 players arriving across the two transfer windows since he did, and head coach Graham Potter only carrying a win ratio of 35 per cent.
A number of Chelsea players do look to have uncertain futures - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has only started four Premier League games this season, scoring once, while Mason Mount is out of contract in 2024 and is yet to agree to fresh terms.
READ: Sterling, Kante, Havertz - the incredible TEAM that could leave Chelsea next summer
What did Romano say?
In defence of Romano, the only time he referred to Sterling directly in his article was to play down speculation linking him with a move to Arsenal.
"I'm not convinced by the Raheem Sterling links with Arsenal," he wrote. "I think we can expect to see ten links per day for Chelsea players as they have many players! But it's March and nothing is concrete at this stage, all sources don't confirm concrete interest as of now.
"It's also worth remembering that Arsenal signed Leandro Trossard in January and will also extend Bukayo Saka's contract, so they have good options in that position already."