Raheem Sterling has endured a difficult season on loan at Arsenal.
The winger signed for the Gunners on a temporary deal on deadline day in the summer, joining Mikel Arteta’s squad at the eleventh hour.
Starting just six Premier League games for Arsenal this season, the Chelsea loanee has been on the periphery of Arteta’s thoughts.
When he has played, however, Sterling has failed to impress, and he appears to be very much past his electric best.
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Paul Merson claims Arsenal winger Raheem Sterling should join Leeds United
Limited mostly to outings in domestic cup competitions, Sterling has netted just one goal in an Arsenal shirt – in a League Cup third round tie against Bolton in September.
Clearly losing some of the explosive pace that made him such a frightening player to come up against in his prime, it’s been a nightmare loan for the England international.
Sterling is expected to return to Chelsea in the summer, although he’s unlikely to play any sort of role at Stamford Bridge under Enzo Maresca.
Thus, he’ll already be eyeing up potential next destinations.
Arsenal legend and now pundit Paul Merson has provided a suggestion for Sterling, telling Sky Sports that the winger should join newly-promoted Leeds United.
“It is hard,” Merson said.
“When you’re a winger, coming in for a game here and a game there [it’s difficult]. It’s not been Arsenal’s full team [when he plays], it’s lesser players playing. It’s been hard for him, I don’t know where he goes from here, that’ll be up to him.
“You need to play football. You need to play consistently week in, week out, to get a rhythm. He’s come in for games where they’ve made changes, so it’s not been fluid, it’s not been going through the lines like they usually do.
“So, I do feel for him in a way but his time at Arsenal will be up, definitely.
“If I was Leeds United, I’d be looking at Raheem. Experienced, they’re a young team, Leeds, they like to play attacking football.
“He’s very good in the dressing room, a good team player. He’s got all the experience in the world and won Premier Leagues. For me, that wouldn’t be a bad move for Leeds and Raheem Sterling.
“Again, going to a massive, huge club. The expectations are not as high. If they finish 17th in the league next year, they’ve pulled up trees. So, that wouldn’t be a bad one for me, that would be one that would tick the box for me.”
Why has it gone so wrong for Raheem Sterling at Arsenal?
People will look to diagnose Sterling’s decline at Arsenal with a multitude of different factors.
In reality, this is just another example of a footballer moving past their best level as they turn 30.
For explosive wingers in particular, once they lose that initial burst of pace, they tend to fare significantly worse.
Add in the fact that he broke through at such a young age, Sterling has followed a similar path to the likes of Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Theo Walcott.
Players who are reliant on certain physical attributes in their game and play a lot of minutes at a young age tend to decline earlier.
Once you no longer possess some of these physical advantages, you become worse at everything else, with these players previously leveraging these advantages to make better decisions and to exploit things technically, which they’re no longer able to do.
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