Will Sterling be money in the bank for Chelsea?

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Sterling has been acquired to help rediscover an attacking spark. As those who bet on football online will already know, Thomas Tuchel’s side is currently priced at odds of 4/6 for a top-four finish in outright markets. Favour is proving hard to come by in football tips from Paddy Power, when it comes to title challenges, as rivals who have already shown themselves to be stronger than the chasing pack are considered to have invested bigger and better in the latest window. The thought of Manchester City and Liverpool being even stronger in 2022-23 should send shivers down spines from west London to the North East.

Closing that gap was never going to be easy, especially as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp were always going to ask for further additions from their respective boards at some stage.

Sterling was among those to head for the exits at the Etihad Stadium following the arrival of another big-money striker in Manchester, with the England international following the lead of Gabriel Jesus when it came to packing bags for the capital.

Has he made the right career call and will a high-profile deal provide enough benefits to Chelsea to make their investment of faith and funds worthwhile? Only time will tell, with the jury still very much out on both counts for now.

The expectation should be that he will fare considerably better than the likes of Lukaku and Timo Werner have done after being drafted into a forward line that already boasts an abundance of international-calibre riches.

Where they have toiled, to the point that one has been moved out and the other continues to generate regular rounds of exit talk, Sterling is the kind of character that will quite literally run himself into the ground for the good of a collective cause.

Trophy chasing

He has individual targets to hit, now more than ever in another World Cup year, but will be happy to let others take a share of the limelight if he is able to inspire the same kind of annual success that he became accustomed to at City.

That process will take time, despite Chelsea’s positive progress in cup competitions and the Champions League over recent campaigns, with Tuchel still working on ticking every box when it comes to sustaining success over a long period of time.

The presence of Sterling will aid that cause, in the Raheem and financial departments, but whether both prove to be money in the bank remains to be seen.