Raheem Sterling will 'instil fear' into Premier League rivals as Chelsea make transfer statement

It would be fair to describe the mood amongst the Chelsea commentariat regarding Raheem Sterling's potential signing as conflicted. Ever since reports emerged that the Blues could move for the Manchester City forward this summer, there were doubts over his ability.

As social media tends to do, you will find extremes about anything, across Sterling's entire career he has proved to be a figure that has polarised opinion despite putting up impressive numbers.

"It doesn't surprise me" Alex Brotherton, Manchester City for the Manchester Evening News tells "Sterling does seem to be that kind of player where even at City, he really should be in the conversation for one of City's best players of the modern era but the fanbase for a while has been quite split."

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"Which is mad really given the sort of numbers that he's put up, how important he's been to the four titles he's won at the club. All the goals and assists he's provided over the years."

It is fair to relate this divide to Sterling's time with England, heavily maligned after the embarrassing defeat to Iceland in June 2016 in the European Championships. Even after his contribution at last year's European Championships, there was critique. "He is quite partial to going on runs of not really producing too much, sort of strings of flat performances." Brotherton said.

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