Chelsea full-back Ben Chilwell has praised “brilliant” teammate Raheem Sterling, who he feels has “brought a lot of experience” and has been a “good addition” despite a somewhat underwhelming season so far.
The Blues are the third big Premier League side Sterling has played for in his career. Indeed, he made his name at Liverpool, where he was directly involved in 48 goals in 129 games.
He then headed to Manchester City, where he had a very successful period of his career. The forward directly contributed to 226 goals in 339 games, as well as winning the league on four occasions, along with another eight team honours.
As such, Chelsea would have expected they were getting a top player when they signed Sterling for £47.5million in the summer. Full-back Chilwell plays with the forward with England, so was excited to be playing with him at club level.
“He’s a brilliant football player, so on the pitch we all kind of knew what we were getting,” he said, quoted by Metro.
“We knew he was going to impact our team with a lot of goalscoring opportunities, with goals and assists.”
In 27 games in all competitions this season, the forward has scored seven goals and provided three assists. While not a bad return, it seems he’s not at the same standard as he was for City last campaign, when he scored 17 goals and provided eight assists.
Despite that, Chilwell feels Chelsea have gotten a quality player who’s impacted the side nonetheless.
“But of course, me and the boys who play at England know that in the changing room and around the training ground, he has a big impact,” he said.
“Even though he’s still young, he’s very experienced, he’s played a lot of international football, he’s played a lot of club games in the Premier League.
“He’s brought a lot of experience, which he’s using to help people across the team, especially the younger players.
“He’s a good addition to the group in terms of his playing style and how he wants to affect the game. And then in the changing room as well, he’s brilliant.”
While the Blues might want more, not just from Sterling, but from all their players, it’s good that they have members of the squad that bring the right atmosphere.
When all their new stars fully gel together, he could be one of the players who has the biggest impact.
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