RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: This is Raheem Sterling’s last chance at a big club… if Mikel Arteta can heal him, the madness of the Chelsea asylum will be exposed

It felt a little symbolic on Thursday morning that a bulletin about Mikel Arteta’s new Arsenal contract was followed so closely by news of Manchester City’s trial date. Such are the ebb and flow of football’s tides, one club riding a big wave while another nervously watches the shrinking circles of a dorsal fin.

For now, we’re looking at a moment of promise for Arsenal, whose long-term prospects are only slightly dampened by a personnel crisis in the near future. Without Declan Rice for Sunday’s north London derby and Martin Odegaard still out for a few weeks, this could be a tricky period for Arteta. A setback, perhaps.

But there is a buzz within Arsenal about their place in the world. An excitement about their trajectory and how circumstances elsewhere might soon help them, combined with a hardening sense that they have the right man in charge of the right men. And one of those men is, of course, more interesting than most.

Ebb and flow? Raheem Sterling has been through a few.

Chelsea pay Sterling around £7.5m in salary to play for a rival

I’ve been talking to people around the club about him this week. We won’t know until about an hour before kick-off if he’s going to play against Tottenham, but the misfortune of others could work in his favour. It could well mean a starting spot for a man who desperately needs a clean slate.

Of course, every new signing is a glimmer of hope, until it isn’t. But Arsenal are increasingly excited, even enthusiastic, by what they’ve seen from Sterling so far — sharp in training, great physical condition, a constant source of good touches for the video packages. There’s that kind of talk about a man who is understated in his manner; friendly but rather quiet.

That has been his way more often than not, contrary to some misconceptions over the years. Those who know him well talk about a man who can be grumpy at times and who has succumbed to questionable advice to others, but say he is essentially a good guy and a good professional. That has been the dominant observation at London Colney since he arrived after dark on deadline day.

The rest of the season will tell us how this move plays out. And so will the confused minds at Chelsea, who are paying in the region of £7.5m in wages for Sterling to play for a rival. It’s a special kind of madness. Arsenal’s exposure to risk is tiny by comparison – they contribute less than half of his £325,000-a-week wage and haven’t paid a penny in loan fees.

Sterling wasn’t a target they were chasing, but when he was presented as an option on those terms, Arteta saw only the upside. As he tells it, it took him 10 seconds to make the decision.

It could prove an outright failure or it could be the bargain of the summer, but it says everything about the scale of Sterling’s decline and his dormant talents that both options are on the same table.

Arsenal are undoubtedly tempted by a player in top form who has continued to play superbly in 2021 and can, at his best, break down defences from either wing, as a number 10 and as a striker.

The worry is that he hasn’t looked like this for a long time, or in any consistent pattern, since he swapped Manchester City for Chelsea 24 months ago. His career has reeked of inertia. Has an elite England international hit the wall harder this century without the burden of serious injuries? It’s hard to think of one.

Sterling’s transfer could well resemble that of Kai Havertz, who ultimately excelled for Arsenal

Sterling’s loan to Arsenal is his last chance at a big club

The test is for Sterling to revive himself, because this loan away from Chelsea asylum is a gift, and one that carries with it the distinct appearance of a final chance. He turns 30 in December and is most likely on the fourth and final stop on his tour of big clubs – if he lets this chance slip away as he did in his Chelsea days, the next rescue committee will not be looking so pretty.

I very much hope that this venture will be similar to Kai Havertz. He was excellent in the second half of last season and has carried his form into the start of this season — he is proof that there is life after the Chelsea setback.

He is also evidence of Arteta’s healing hands. Of his ability to make good players very good or very good players excellent. His coaching has been instrumental in refining a player whose versatility once seemed to count against him, with his confidence gradually restored. It is exactly what Sterling needs.

After the mixed messages of five managers at Stamford Bridge, who learned one system to pivot with every new wind, in roles ranging from left-back to right-winger to the author of disgruntled pre-match statements, he returns to a coach he knows. A coach he trusts. A coach who trusts him.

Arteta’s impact on Sterling at City has been documented elsewhere this week. It was the Spaniard, in his former life as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, who transformed an unreliable finisher into one of the team’s most prolific scorers. He gave him time in those extra sessions when others had left the pitch, explained to him where and when he needed to be in the box, and the results were magnificent.

Perhaps Sterling was never as great as his hype, but for a time he was solid value for 30+ league games in six consecutive seasons in a Guardiola attack. That his very best came via those extracurricular sessions with Arteta is one reason to think his departure could spark another investigation at Chelsea.

I’ve argued in this space before that managers who fail at Chelsea deserve a kind of free pass. The club is a breeding ground for failure at the moment. But I wouldn’t be so generous with players like Sterling, who had more than enough minutes to shine at Stamford Bridge. He just didn’t take the chance.

And yet it is overwhelmingly tempting to back Arteta’s assessment of the summer’s most compelling transfer. ‘I knew after 10 seconds that we needed him here,’ Arteta said on Friday. ‘You feel it when you walk through the door — we are better with him. He is going to make us better.’

Arteta often has a soft spot for hyperbole, but those words suggest he is fully aware that blowing smoke up Sterling’s backside could be the first step on the road to recovery.

Of course, smoke and hot air are not so different and it is up to Sterling to show that he is still worth the fuss. If he does, he will build on a mountain of existing evidence by proving the wisdom of one London club and the stupidity of another.

Liverpool must not lose Trent Alexander-Arnold

It is of great importance for Liverpool to keep Trent Alexander-Arnold

On a night that belonged to Harry Kane, it was Trent Alexander-Arnold who produced the most remarkable moment of England’s win over Finland this week. Unfortunately, the TV replays focused more on Eberechi Eze missing the finish than the curving, dipping ball off the outside of Alexander-Arnold’s boot, which snaked between two centre-backs and landed squarely in his path from 40 yards out. Genius can show itself in many ways and he moved that ball like Ronnie O’Sullivan.

It would be a shame if Liverpool lose Mo Salah or Virgil van Dijk this summer due to expiring contracts, but Alexander-Arnold is the one they need most.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s criticism of Erik ten Hag proves popular

Cristiano Ronaldo’s criticism of Erik ten Hag was popular with Manchester United supporters

Cristiano Ronaldo struck a popular chord with Manchester United fans by seizing on Erik ten Hag’s admission that the club are a long way off challenging for Premier League and Champions League titles. Whether the 2024 Ronaldo was wise to start a conversation about the line between self-confidence and delusion is another matter entirely.