Manchester City have been linked to Raheem Sterling in the Express, Sky Sports think Chelsea want the youngster but similarly won’t pay £50m – while the Telegraph cite an Express story which claims Arsenal will submit an official bid this week…
So in short, the 20-year-old is a wanted man.
But if the Sky Sports report is to be believed and clubs are baulking at our £50m valuation, we might be able to take advantage of the situation and bolster our own squad with some sort of player plus cash deal – like this one involving Edin Dzeko mooted in Manchester Evening News.
We’ve chosen three players from each of the above clubs that we reckon should be considered if a swap deal involving the unhappy youngster does indeed take place…
Who would you prefer?
Manchester City:
Edin Dzeko…
We badly need a forward, and although he struggled for game time last season (no disgrace behind Sergio Aguero…), Dzeko is top class. He’s 29-years-old so is still in his prime, and is a proven goalscorer. In all competitions in 2013/14 he notched 26 goals, and would significantly bolster our forward line either as a partner for Daniel Sturridge or a lone forward when our Englishman is unavailable injured. The Bosnian deserves the first-team football he’s sometimes denied at City, and could flourish if given the opportunity.
Stevan Jovetic
Another forward at City who doesn’t play enough because of the brilliance of the Argentine in front of him in the pecking order… Jovetic was restricted to 17 Premier League appearances last time out, and was ditched from City’s Champions League squad too. He’s mighty talented though, as his brace against us at the Etihad at the very start of the season proved. He can play either as a central striker or as a second forward, and like Dzeko, would improve our attacking options and potentially flourish with more minutes.
Jesus Navas
The rapid Spaniard provides much of what Sterling does. He’s not as good technically, but he’s arguably just as quick – and more disciplined defensively down either flank. Navas loves to bomb down the sides and whip in crosses, and we haven’t got a player in the squad with that capability, with Sterling, Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Jordon Ibe preferring to cut infield usually. Like Dzeko and Jovetic, Navas isn’t an automatic starter, so we can’t see why City would fight tooth and nail to keep him.
Chelsea:
Juan Cuadrado
The Colombian only signed for Chelsea in January, but has barely had a sniff since completing his Stamford Bridge move. As a result, Inter Milan have been linked with his services in the Express, with the Serie A side keen to take the World Cup 2014 star back to Italy. Cuadrado would be a like for like exchange for Sterling, due to his dribbling skills and ability to play on either flank in a 4-3-3. He’s skilful, possesses a mighty shot from range and can beat defenders. Chelsea regularly sell players to rivals (Juan Mata to Manchester United, Romelu Lukaku to Everton…) so if they were really keen on Sterling, we can’t see why they wouldn’t part with Cuadrado.
Filipe Luis
Filipe Luis is one of the best left-backs in Europe and starts for Brazil, but due to the excellent Cesar Azpilicueta, he’s second choice at Chelsea. The 29-year-old would add some much needed top level experience to our occasionally leaky defence though, and would be a real coup as part of any potential Sterling deal. He’s got a sweet left-foot, but is much better defensively than young Alberto Moreno – who hasn’t entirely settled since his move from Sevilla last summer.
Chelsea cont.
Mohamed Salah
We were heavily linked with the Egyptian flyer in January 2014 (via Guardian) but Chelsea won the race for his signature. Rather satisfyingly for us, he didn’t make the grade at Chelsea, but this was mainly due to a lack of chances, and not a lack of ability. Since joining Fiorentina on loan this January, he’s excelled – proving exactly why he was so highly rated at FC Basel. It’s obvious Brendan Rodgers rates the 23-year-old or he wouldn’t have tried to sign him last year. Whether fans could forgive him for joining Chelsea instead of us is another matter of course, but he has undoubted talent – and his pace is especially impressive.
Arsenal:
Theo Walcott
Annoyingly for us, Walcott is close to a new deal at Arsenal (via Metro) which makes any chance of him leaving the Emirates very slim. He’s a Liverpool fan though, and isn’t guaranteed first-team football at Arsenal due to Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil tying down two of three attacking midfield spots. Walcott’s approaching his peak and can play either wide or up top effectively. His pace is arguably even better than Sterling’s and is a far more natural goalscorer.
Arsenal cont.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
This one’s extremely unlikely to happen, but if Arsenal did sign Sterling, then his young England team-mate would drop further down the Emirates pecking order. Oxlade-Chamberlain is terrifically talented, arguably on a par with Sterling in this respect, but injuries have seen our starlet overtake him in terms of development. This seems to happen to all Arsenal players though, so we shouldn’t hold it against him, and his ability to play as a central midfielder is also handy. In fact, last January Arsene Wenger called him ‘The new Steven Gerrard’ (via Mirror), so maybe he’d be the perfect player to bring in with our skipper leaving for MLS!
Kieran Gibbs
Probably the least inspiring player in this list, but a sensible option nonetheless. ESPN claimed that we would consider swapping both Walcott and Gibbs for Sterling, though we’re not sure Arsenal would part with both the England internationals. Gibbs would be an improvement on Alberto Moreno right now, and if we signed Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne (linked in the Echo), we’d have both England’s starting fullbacks on our roster. With James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana already on the books – as well as Daniel Sturridge – we’d have half the Three Lions starting line-up!
