Raheem Sterling has made his first appearance since leaving Arsenal in June 2025.
Sterling’s disastrous loan spell at Arsenal left his future up in the air, seeing him frozen out by Chelsea, only to terminate his contract to then sign for Feyenoord.
Despite stepping out of England for the first time in his career, Sterling still has ties to the Premier League, being coached by Robin van Persie at Feyenoord.
After the winger’s debut against SC Telstar in the Eredivisie, Van Persie said he was ‘happy’ with what he saw from Sterling, but some Feyenoord fans thought differently.
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Robin van Persie and Feyenoord fans disagree about Raheem Sterling’s debut
Sterling came on in the 61st minute to play a total of 29 minutes on his first competitive outing since appearing for Arsenal against Southampton on the last day of the 2024/25 season.
Reacting to the winger’s cameo, Van Persie told the media that he liked what he saw, praising how threatening Sterling was.
“He was good and threatening. I’m happy with that.”
It was a different take from Feyenoord fans and from Voetbal Zone.
Voetbal Zone described Sterling’s debut as one that ‘didn’t leave a lasting impression’.
The same outlet gathered some comments from Feyenoord supporters about the former Arsenal loanee, and the consensus was that his first appearance was nothing overly special.
One said, “Sterling moves like he hasn’t played in ages.”
Another added, “It’s like watching a veteran kick a ball around for charity.”
A Feyenoord fan also noted that they saw Sterling try ‘to be threatening’, but realised that the Englishman ‘still looks a bit rusty’.
It’s unsurprising that Sterling was rusty, as he’d not played competitively for 39 weeks, plus, had minimal training sessions with Feyenoord, who had to train in Belgium before the fixture due to the winger’s work permit.
Raheem Sterling’s stats on Feyenoord debut fit fans’ feedback more than Van Persie’s
Van Persie liked what he saw, but fans weren’t overly sold on the 31-year-old.
When looking at the statistics from Sterling’s cameo against Telstar, it seems that the supporters’ feedback was more accurate, given the lack of contribution the ex-Arsenal man provided.
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In 29 minutes on the pitch, Sterling had 17 touches on the ball and completed eight passes, but that’s about where his influence ended.
Van Persie said the winger was threatening, but that wasn’t reflected through his stats, with zero key passes, zero shots, zero dribbles and zero crosses.
For Sterling, the only thought will be that he finally has a club to get himself back on track, which means more than anything he produced on his debut.
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