In recent weeks, Raheem Sterling has been a rare bright spark for Chelsea, and has been key to Mauricio Pochettino’s side’s slight upturn in form, which has seen morale boosted in and around the first-team playing squad, who had previously found it tough to pick up any sort of positive result in the Premier League.
The former Manchester City winger has scored five goals and been on hand to provide two assists from his 14 matches across all competitions to date. He caught the eye with a hugely impressive performance in the thrilling 4-4 draw with Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, with some plaudits calling for Sterling to return to the England senior squad.
However, Sterling remained out of the picture for the European Championship qualifiers, with the likes of Jarrod Bowen, and fellow Chelsea team-mate Cole Palmer being picked ahead of the experienced England international. It remains to be seen as to why Sterling is being frozen out of the England setup at this moment in time, but if he can continue to build on some impressive showings so far this season, then you’d imagine that he’ll stand every chance of pushing for a recall to the squad for their European Championship campaign next summer.
In a recent interview with BonusCodeBets, former England winger John Barnes issued his thoughts on Sterling’s latest omission, and admitted that he would always select the Chelsea man if he was in charge, but doesn’t see it as an issue that he’s currently not in the squad for their European Championship qualifiers.
“Raheem has played well in the last two or three games for Chelsea and Chelsea haven’t been doing too well up until recently.
“People are looking at the last two or three matches and saying he should be called up but if you look at the amount of talent available to Gareth Southgate it’s a tough situation to be in.
“I’ll always have Raheem in the England squad but I don’t think it’s an issue of Raheem not being in the squad. Raheem may warrant being in the squad based on recent form but the squad was picked before the City game so he will be back in the squad at some point.”
Sterling had previously been a regular in the England team in recent years, and has made over 80 appearances for the Three Lions, which includes at the 2022 World Cup, where he scored in their 6-2 win over Iran, before Gareth Southgate’s side were beaten by France in their quarter-final clash.
However, with the emergence of the likes of Cole Palmer and Jarrod Bowen, some might feel as though England have better options available to them heading towards the future, but Sterling has shown that he can perform to a high standard on a consistent basis in the Premier League. You’d like to think that if he can continue to go from strength to strength and pull Chelsea up the table heading towards the festive period then Sterling would stand every chance of a well-deserved recall to the England team.
It could potentially be his final chance to break back into the England squad whilst he’s in good form, and so there will be that added motivation for Sterling. If Chelsea are going to show improvement this season, then he’s going to be at the heart of it.
