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In recent seasons, Chelsea has been one of the biggest spenders in European soccer. Some of those investments began to pay off last season under Enzo Maresca, as the club won both the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup. Still, not every signing delivered the expected results—Raheem Sterling being a clear example.
The English winger joined Chelsea in 2022 from Manchester City. While he was an important figure in his first seasons, his role has since diminished. In fact, last year he was loaned out to Arsenal, where he also struggled to make an impact. Upon returning to London this summer, Maresca chose not to include him in his squad.
Since the summer, Sterling has been training separately from the rest of the team while waiting for a potential move to another club—the same situation facing Axel Disasi. The coach was asked about the struggles of both players during Friday’s press conference.
“My father is 75 years old and for 50 years he has been a fisherman, working from two o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock,” Maresca began, according to the Daily Mail. “This is a hard life. Not for players.”
Axel Disasi was also left out of the squad by Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
However, the Italian coach did go on to acknowledge that the situations of Disasi and Sterling are far from ideal. “I’ve been in Raheem’s situation and Axel’s situation as a player and for sure, I know that it’s not the best feeling for a player because if you are a player, that means that you want to train and play games,” he said. “The situation is the situation.”
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FIFA World Cup
