Thursday 12 / September / 2024
London: England winger Raheem Sterling's camp is seeking clarity over his exclusion from Chelsea's squad for their Premier League season opener clash against defending champions Manchester City on Sunday.
After featuring in all of Chelsea's pre-season games, Sterling was left out of the 20-player squad for their home clash against his former club.
During the pre-season tour, Chelsea head coach, Enzo Maresca stated that Sterling was "one of our most important players".
"Raheem Sterling is contracted to Chelsea Football Club for the next three years. He returned to England two weeks early to conduct individual training, and has had a positive pre-season under the new coach, who he has developed a good working relationship with," a spokesperson for Sterling said, as quoted from Sky Sports.
"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," the spokesperson added.
Apart from Sterling, Chelsea's high-profile players Carney Chukwuemeka, Ben Chilwell and Axel Disasi were also left out of the squad.
Maresca opened up about their absence from the squad during the pre-match and said, "The manager has to take decisions that people and players don't like - it's normal. It's just a technical decision, no more than that. We will see in the next days."
Sterling joined Chelsea in 2022 and has netted 14 goals in 59 appearances in the Premier League.
