Raheem Sterling sat in front of the media this afternoon at Cobham to take his first official Chelsea press conference as a Blue.
It was a great interview and really showed that Chelsea not only signed a quality player, but they have also signed a very level-headed leader.
I had my doubts over Sterling when we were first linked, I must admit, I wasn’t sure whether his frustrations in front of goal that I had witnessed from him would be a negative factor. But after really pondering it, the positives largely outweighed the negatives (one negative) and I soon came around to it and actually got very excited when we did finally announce him as a new Chelsea player.
Sterling was measured, smart, and very open with his answers he gave today, which you can watch on Chelsea’s 5th Stand App or official YouTube channel. We know he has come here to win, and his leadership and influence will be a massive plus point for us, because the latter two qualities is something we have really lacked over recent seasons. Chelsea have needed more leaders, and Sterling is absolutely that.
He talks about how Steven Gerrard put an arm around him when he was a young player at Liverpool, and now he is doing the same at Chelsea, and this will be huge for us to have a guy like this around the club, in the dressing room, and most importantly, his real quality out on the pitch.