Vesper

The sadness of Raheem Sterling https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7253471/2026/05/12/raheem-sterling-feyenoord-next-club/ Before heading to the airport, I get in touch with an old Dutch footballer to ask what has gone wrong with Raheem Sterling. Jan Everse, a former Netherlands international, started his career at Feyenoord. He played with Johan Cruyff at Ajax and went on to manage PEC Zwolle, with a young Arne Slot in his team. But his focus, as a Rotterdam man, is always Feyenoord. And he is amused that a sports writer is flying in from the UK to watch a player who, in different circumstances, might have been playing at this summer’s World Cup. “You’re coming to see Raheem Sterling?” he asks. “Does your boss not like you very much?” Sterling, he explains, is having a bad time. How bad? “It’s over,” he states, very matter-of-factly. “I hope I’ve made a mistake and misjudged him, but I don’t think so. Look at the comments on the internet — the fans are killing him. ‘The biggest failure in our history’, they are saying. “He’s not fit. If he makes three or four sprints, you don’t see him for 20 minutes. He’s not explosive any longer. He falls over his own legs. He’s hesitating. He’s anxious not to make mistakes. One against one, he never passes a defender. So now, without his old speed, he plays the ball without risk. He has no confidence, and that’s because he knows he cannot do what he wants to do. “I feel pity for him. I don’t feel pity for a lot of footballers, because I know how much they earn. But I feel pity for him because he was such a fantastic footballer and I can see the old Raheem Sterling in my memory. It’s not a happy marriage. And if you feel pity for a player with his qualities, and his background, you know it’s over.” Raheem Sterling did not get a kickstart by moving to FeyenoordBas Czerwinski/AFP via Getty Images It’s over? At the age of 31? I came off the phone thinking it must be worse than I had imagined but, equally, I want to see it with my own eyes. I’ve been writing about Sterling since he made his breakthrough as a 17-year-old at Liverpool, throughout his years at Manchester City and a long, often brilliant England career. I know what a tough character he is. I’ve seen, close up, his elite mentality. Arriving in Rotterdam, however, I’m not detecting much sympathy from the supporters who have gathered at Oude Haven (Old Harbour) or, opposite De Kuip stadium, the strip of bars and eateries in Puck van Heelstraat where fans congregate for pre-match drinks and patat broodjes. “Did you see what Willem van Hanegem had to say?” asks one supporter, Dennis, wearing Feyenoord’s red and white shirt among a beery, boisterous crowd outside the Hollywood pub. “Because that’s how everyone feels. At this point, everyone will be happy when it’s over.” Van Hanegem is one of the greats of Dutch football and such a legendary figure at Feyenoord there is a stand named in his honour. He has said of Sterling: “If I were them (Feyenoord), I would ask for my money back and say, ‘Just go home’.” I’ve already been told that Sterling’s absence of form has led to some tense moments between Feyenoord’s head coach, Robin van Persie, and some of the journalists who follow the club. Van Persie has had some harsh write-ups of his own this season. In February, he handed a bouquet of flowers, pointedly, to two of his press box critics to mark his first anniversary in the job. The criticism of Sterling has been another sore point. “Typically Dutch,” Van Persie complained, arguing that it was unfair to judge the player until he had been there six to eight weeks. But then we reached that point and Sterling was out of the team. So then what? Robin van Persie has defended Sterling since his arrival in JanuaryPeter Lous/Eye4Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images Their game on Sunday felt very much like Sterling’s goodbye to Rotterdam. Feyenoord drew 1-1 with AZ to guarantee a second-place finish and Champions League qualification. It was their final home match of the season and Jordan Bos, an Australia international, played in the wide-left attacking position that Sterling was supposed to fill. Bos, to put it in context, is usually a left-back. It was the third game in four that Sterling, on a short-term contract, was an unused substitute. And, crazy as it might sound, I wonder whether Van Persie may have kept him off the pitch to spare him, potentially, from any more of the ridicule that has attached itself to his previous performances. The game, for example, at NAC Breda in March, when Sterling made his first start for his new club. He was substituted just after the hour. “Sterling didn’t start well,” Van Hanegem wrote in a column for Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. “Then he was laughed at by the crowd. I don’t really like that. That boy has won everything in his career; show him some respect.” Or the home game against Groningen last month when Sterling entered the play as a 74th-minute substitute. A Dutch journalist sent me an update, via Whatsapp, late in the second half. “It’s getting a bit sad now,” it read. “Sterling just got on the pitch, gets a ball played to him and falls over while trying to run past a defender. Everyone’s just laughing at him in the stadium.” In happier times, there were questions at England press conferences about whether Sterling was a future Ballon d’Or winner. Maybe, on reflection, it was a bit over the top bearing in mind he would have had to get past two half-decent footballers by the name of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. But Sterling was seven years younger than Messi, whereas the gap to Ronaldo was almost a decade. What about when those two had moved on? Could that be Sterling’s time? And Gareth Southgate, then England’s manager, nodded in agreement, absolutely not ruling it out. “In terms of, ‘Can he fulfil it?’, he’ll give himself every chance,” Southgate told reporters after a 5-3 win over Kosovo in 2019. ”There are some outstanding players around — (Eden) Hazard, (Kevin) De Bruyne, Messi, Ronaldo. But he (Sterling) has got the drive, he’s got the professionalism, he’s got the ability. He’s physically and mentally strong for such a small-statured lad.” Raheem Sterling at the peak of his powers against Kosovo in 2019Clive Mason/Getty Images Well, he got close (ish). Sterling was 12th in the Ballon d’Or voting that year, then 15th when the award returned in 2021 after a year’s absence for Covid-19. For England, his 82 caps took in three World Cups. At the European Championship in 2021, he was named in UEFA’s team of the tournament. There were four Premier League titles with Manchester City. At Liverpool, he won the Golden Boy award as the world’s best young player. And let’s not forget his MBE, in the queen’s 2021 birthday honours list, for his services to racial equality as a serious, socially engaged footballer. Ignoring, for one moment, how it ended for him at Chelsea and Arsenal, it is the kind of career that commands respect among anyone who has ever kicked a ball for a living. So I wait for Van Persie after Sunday’s game to find out more. What has gone wrong? And what happens next? He chooses his words carefully. “The question with Raheem was never about his qualities,” he explains. “He has scored over 200 goals in England (it’s a slight exaggeration, but OK). In my opinion, he was, and still is, a winner. And, from day one, he has worked really hard. We were building him up, fitness-wise, and he was slowly getting better… but, at the same time, we had to win every single game to achieve our goal of Champions League football.” That last line — the inevitable ‘but’ — feels particularly relevant. What it doesn’t quite explain is why, three months in, Sterling seems further away than ever from the team. Yet Van Persie does also make the point that there were mitigating circumstances, out of the player’s control, to explain why “we knew (from the start) his match fitness was not at our level”. Before the move to Feyenoord, Sterling had seven months without football because of Chelsea’s decision to ‘bomb-squad’ a player who had cost them £47.5million from Manchester City. There were 17 league appearances during a season on loan at Arsenal, but only seven of them starts, and three 90-minute performances in all competitions. Sterling has only featured sporadically for FeyenoordSonny Lensen/ANP via Getty Images Ostracised by the club that was paying him £325,000 a week, Sterling took on a personal trainer while he was at Chelsea. His name is Ben Rosenblatt and, before leaving Rotterdam, I call him to ask about the accusation, in football language, that Sterling’s legs have gone. Rosenblatt has coached more than 1,000 athletes, including world and Olympic medallists. “I’ve been in football and professional sport long enough to know that everyone has an opinion,” he says. “But I also know it’s a very fickle world and opinions can change very quickly. My experience — and I’ve talked about this to Raheem — is that it takes only one moment to change everyone’s opinion and give yourself positive momentum.” The player, in Rosenblatt’s words, is “a freak, an incredible specimen”. As part of a specially tailored fitness regimen, Sterling was put through his paces at an alpine test track near Surrey, a two-mile stretch of steep, snaking slopes used by the British army to test tanks and armoured vehicles. But it is also clear how all that time without football has left Sterling playing a long game of catch-up. “It was gobsmacking,” says Rosenblatt. ”When we started working with him, I was definitely thinking, ‘I don’t know how this guy can play again’. Then, within a few sessions, it was, ‘Oh, wow, that’s impressive’. We were able to get him to the point where he got back into training (at Feyenoord) and didn’t look out of place. Fundamentally, though, if you think about it in the context of pre-season, he was playing again after a week or two weeks, with all that pressure and expectation. That is something Raheem can handle, by the way. But there is a reality to it.” It all makes sense even if, unfortunately for Sterling, he may have to understand that these questions will persist unless he rediscovers his touch next season, presumably for a new club. Major League Soccer, perhaps? Or the Middle East? Or is there a club in the Premier League who would take a gamble? All that can really be said for certain is that Sterling may have to re-invent himself during the summer. He was, after all, a machine earlier in his career, playing more than 50 games in eight successive seasons (or 40-plus in 11). By the time he was 29, he had well over 600 games under his belt, all at the highest level. That, in turn, makes it inevitable there will be fears of burnout. Has everything caught up with him? Is he now at the point when age becomes his toughest opponent. “I’ve enjoyed working with him,” says Van Persie. “There’s one more game to play next weekend (at Zwolle) and then we’re going to sit down together and ask him how he liked his time with Feyenoord and how he sees the future. We will do the same, from our point of view. Then we will decide if he stays or takes on another challenge.” The stories last week that Sterling had already been told were incorrect. It feels like it is coming, though. And if nothing else, at least it seems to be heading towards a dignified parting. Everyone at Feyenoord says the same: that his attitude has been impeccable, that there have been no issues behind the scenes and that, despite it not working out, it has been good for the other players to have him around. Ultimately, though, it is tempting to think Van Persie might regret ushering in Sterling as “one of the biggest transfers in the club’s history”. The player was billed as ‘Raheem the Dream’ and Feyenoord were so keen to give him the red-carpet treatment they moved training across the Belgium border to Tubize, 85 miles away, so he could be involved while he was waiting for his work permit. Since then, Sterling had made only seven appearances, and just four in the starting XI. He has not scored a single goal and, though Van Persie generously pointed out there was an assist in a 2-1 win against Excelsior in March, Sterling’s place has often gone to a 19-year-old, Tobias van den Elshout, since he was removed from the team. Sterling and his Feyenoord team-mates acknowledge the fans on SundayBas Czerwinski/ANP via Getty Images Van den Elshout is usually a central midfielder and that, according to Everse, is damning in itself. “So you have Feyenoord playing some very important games (to qualify for the Champions League) and a guy from the youth team is playing instead of Sterling,” he says. “This boy (Van den Elshout) is a midfielder, playing as a left-winger. How can it be that a young player, who has never started games in the first team, is in the line-up, in a different position to usual, ahead of Sterling? That, for me, was end of story. You kill Sterling. Kill him! He looked very, very miserable.” On Sunday, Sterling sat alone in the dugout — two empty seats on one side, three on the other. He has kept his distance from the Dutch media and it was made clear before the match that he would not be doing any interviews. Later that evening, Marcus Rashford could be seen scoring a goal for Barcelona against Real Madrid in a Clasico win that helped his team claim the Spanish league. Rashford, three years younger, used to be one of the players Sterling was always measured against. Now, though, their careers are heading in opposite directions. Yet it would be wrong to depict Sterling as looking miserable. At the end of the match, he gave his shirt to a young supporter in the stand. He went round each player with hugs and hand-shakes and he took his place, on the edge of the penalty area, as the team, the coaches and other members of staff lined up to acknowledge the crowd’s support. Then something happened — a goodbye, a show of respect, whatever you want to call it — that felt out of keeping with the rest of the day. The crowd started singing Raheem Sterling’s name. And, for a few moments, it was just like the old times.

indeed and all are older, except for Hugo Ekitiké, who is 9 months younger than Pedro here are all the CFs I rate at Pedro's level of above (I do not count the 3 ancients, Lewa, CR7, and Benz) strike-throughs are not available in order of valuation Erling Haaland soon turns 26yo Kylian Mbappé turns 28yo in December Ousmane Dembélé turned 29yo today Alexander Isak (perhaps they might sell but what a MASSIVE dice roll, and I so doubt Pool sells, as when healthy he can be a beast, he turns 27yo in 4 months Julián Alvarez turns 27yo in January Hugo Ekitiké turns 24yo in a month, plus is out until 2027 with a horrid Achilles rupture (Pool are now so cursed) Lautaro Martínez turns 29yo in 3 months Victor Osimhen turns 28 in December then my 2 personal targets to replace Pedro IF he is sold and IF we fail on the 3 CFs in bold above: Junior Kroupi could soon be at Pedro's level in a year or 2, he turns 20yo next month, he has 12 EPL goals in basically half a full EPL season's minutes as a teen Rayan Bournemouth's other teen striker, has 7 goals in only 1000 minutes, with 5 of then in the EPL, and he deffo can play CF too

Sam Kerr to leave Chelsea at end of season after six years https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/48770687/sam-kerr-leave-Chelsea-end-season-six-years Striker Sam Kerr will leave Chelsea when her contract expires at the end of the season. The Australian is currently one short of matching Chelsea's record goalscorer Fran Kirby having netted 115 times in 157 appearances for the club since joining in January 2020. Kerr has been one of the stars of a trophy-laden spell for the Blues, twice winning the Women's Super League Golden Boot and helping the side to five WSL titles, three Women's FA Cups and three League Cups. "When I reflect on my Chelsea career and doing it for the last time, I just feel happy," the 32-year-old said on the club's website. "Happy that it happened, and I feel so grateful to have played for this club for six years and won as many trophies as we could." There have been difficult times, too, with Kerr sidelined for 20 months after sustaining a knee ligament injury in January 2024. Kerr, who captains the Australia national team, is set to make her final appearance for Chelsea in Saturday's WSL clash with Manchester United. This season she has scored 16 goals, becoming Chelsea's leading WSL scorer, and the club said, "We thank Sam for her incredible contribution to our success on the pitch and sustained growth off it. We wish her all the best in the next chapter of her career."

I was not spell checking, I have never done that on here that I can recall. I was pointing out the use of of an incorrect word: 'bare' when the correct English word in that sentence is 'bear'.

Attracting Players: The crucial reason Chelsea need Xabi Alonso Honing in on The Guardian's report https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/attracting-players-the-crucial-reason Yes, I’m aware that many of you dislike Jacob Steinburg and do not rate him as a source. I get it. However, a lot of the info he gets is similar to what we get and even though sometimes he will put out club PR, most of his stuff is sourced from other places like ours is. This is why I will not just dismiss what he puts out, and I will see substance in some of it, if not all of it. I wanted to hone in on it anyway, for a few reasons. The first is around the reasons Chelsea are looking at Alonso. There is a feeling inside Chelsea that Alonso’s style of play would make him suited to their young squad. The former Spain midfielder’s standing within the game would help him control the dressing room and could also help with attracting players to the club. This is spot on, and that last bit is CRUCIAL. You would have read my recent gloomy reports around players not being interested in coming to Chelsea this summer and the thought we might have to turn to B and C lists for our player targets this summer. IF Alonso comes in, I have no doubt that this would change. I have no doubt that he would be able to attract our main targets even without European football. I think his name stands in that much of a high regard that it will make all the difference. And for the same reason, we won’t see any Liam Rosenior problems with players not respecting the head coach. They will fully respect him, and maybe it might even change some of the minds of the players wanting out. Am I being too naïve there? Maybe. But I genuinely think he could make the difference with those two important points. Although Steinburg is being very positive on Alonso to Chelsea, in the same breathe, he’s mentioning the talks with Andoni Iraola and why the club like him. One thing people seem to be forgetting is that they have the same agent, so of course they will speak about both managers when there is a vacant position for head coach at Chelsea - it would be daft not to. But make no mistake, Alonso is the guy they want as PRIORITY, and he is the one they are absolutely throwing everything at right now to get him in. But they do have contingency plans just in case because after all, we will need a new manager regardless! Chelsea have held encouraging discussions over a move for Xabi Alonso but are keeping their options open and are closely monitoring Andoni Iraola’s situation. The Stamford Bridge hierarchy is confident of attracting their favoured candidate and there is optimism over how early talks with Alonso’s camp have gone. The unknown is whether Alonso decides to move to England now or opts to take a break. But suggestions that he is waiting to see if the Liverpool role becomes open soon have been exaggerated. The current sense is that the Merseysiders will stick with Arne Slot this summer, although that is yet to be confirmed. Something that has been acknowledged by the recruitment department is the need for the team to become more physical. That heightens the appeal of Iraola, whose Bournemouth side are one of the most intense in the Premier League. Chelsea have met Iraola to talk to him about the role. There is respect for the Spaniard’s work with Bournemouth and a sense that he is more than capable of taking on a big job. Iraola has responded to Bournemouth losing a number of key players in defence and attack during the past year by putting them in contention for Champions League qualification. Edging on the side of caution is the takeaway from this article, as all of us should be too right now. Full article here if you want to read it all and haven’t see it yet.

Said El Mala would be the most likely buy on the list of 5 Köln reportedly now want want 50m euros, ie £43m, we will supposedly offer 45m euros, ie £39m

Please do not tell me what to do. I broke no TOS on here.

Best available LWers for us, IMHO Kenan Yıldız Yan Diomande Bradley Barcola (not sure if PSG sell him, I would not if I were them, unless they buy one of the first 2 listed) Morgan Rogers (AMF as well, if not primarily) Said El Mala

Fans just want that overall connection back and to see players fighting for the badge It's not even that much to ask https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/fans-just-want-that-overall-connection Anyone involved with Chelsea right now who may want to know what the biggest problems are at our club, might just need to read this Joe Cole quote. It’s literally as simple as this. Fans have lost connection with the club, and it’s down to the culture being gutted, and watching players just not fighting for the badge. Not all the time, granted, but a lot of the time. As fans, all we want to see is players give their all for the club and for the fans. That’s it. Joe Cole: “I was talking to a Chelsea fan the other day who loves the club. It felt more like a therapy session. “He said to me, ‘It was different in your day, we felt connected.’ “I asked him why he felt like that, and what we did differently apart from winning matches? “He said there was a response to the losing games, and more engagement with the fans. “He used Shevchenko as an example; he came in and had a terrible time, but the fans could see he was trying. “He was humble, and every time they sang Shevchenko’s name, he acknowledged them. For a Ballon d’Or winner who’s having a difficult time, they still remembered that more than 15 years later. “It’s the little things that I think the group need to take charge of, but no senior players are leading that at the club. “They don’t realise how important it is, and what he said was that, he says, at Chelsea, success is not judged on how many trophies you won, but on how much money you’re in the red at the end of the season or how much profit you’ve made. “That summed it up. “That seems to be where our Chelsea Football Club is now, not judged on performance on the pitch, but on the finances. “And you can’t tell me anything other than that. It’s the truth.” Perfectly said by Joe and this fan. This is nail on the head stuff. Gut a club of the culture, anyone who was part of the old regime, and then put together a bunch of young players without leadership and an experienced manager, and you lose all of what Chelsea Football Club stands for. This is it, in a nutshell. These words should be put on the walls of the offices in Cobham. If you want the fans FULLY back onside, then you need to bring the Chelsea culture back. You need to get the players playing for the badge again and putting it all in for the fans. I keep saying it, but football can be such a simple game when you look at it like this and stop trying to over complicate it.

normally I do not give a toss, but bare incorrectly used in place of bear for 'bear in mind' is a personal pet peeve of mine sorry it is the same for 'right to bear arms' (carry guns, etc) 'bare arms' are what you have when you wear short-sleeved or sleeveless clothing

IF Mou ends up at Real Madrid (looks fairly likely atm) and IF he gets his number one demand (Olise for his RWer) the Real Madrid will have 5 of the top 8 most valued players on the planet Barca will have 2 Citeh 1 (Håland, who may well want to leave if Pep goes, and would SO be Barca-bound at that point if Barca were not still in such financial fuckery)

Chelsea https://thedailybriefing.io/i/197384172/Chelsea Chelsea have held positive talks with Xabi Alonso over becoming their new manager, with the Spanish tactician open to taking the Blues job. (Give Me Sport) Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo has changed agents, which could lead to some concern over his future from Blues fans. (Ben Jacobs) Barcelona really like Chelsea striker Joao Pedro, but the Blues insist he’s an important part of their project. (Fabrizio Romano) Chelsea are one of the clubs eyeing up Como centre-back Jacobo Ramon, but Real Madrid have the advantage due to a buy-back clause in his contract. (Sports Boom)

22 total goals produced in only 2869 minutes 17 goals 5 assists for a fairly poor team team

Man United and Chelsea lock horns in race for Karim Coulibaly, Germany's next defensive wall https://www.caughtoffside.com/2026/05/08/just-in-man-united-Chelsea-germanys-defensive-wall/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email Werder Bremen’s teenage sensation Karim Coulibaly is emerging as one of the continent’s most coveted defensive targets. Premier League clubs are expected to have a busy summer transfer window and defensive additions are high on their agenda. According to reports from Italian transfer expert Nicolo Schira, Premier League heavyweights Manchester United and Chelsea have heavily scouted the 18-year-old center-back, both identifying him as a foundational piece for their respective long-term defensive rebuilds. With a host of elite clubs now circling, Coulibaly’s rapid rise from academy prospect to Bundesliga regular is turning heads across Europe. Karim Coulibaly has been sensational this season Coulibaly’s rise this season has been nothing short of spectacular. Earning 23 starts for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, the 18-year-old has transitioned comfortably to top flight football. Rather than looking out of his depth, the teenager has displayed the composure and tactical intelligence of a seasoned veteran. His dominant club form was rightfully rewarded on the international stage this past March. Coulibaly was fast-tracked into the Germany Under-21 squad, making a highly impressive debut during a comprehensive 3-0 European Championship qualifying victory against Northern Ireland. For Man United and Chelsea, the intense interest in Coulibaly is rooted in his incredibly rare and highly sought-after profile. Standing at an imposing 1.91m (6 ft 3 in), he possesses the physical dominance required to handle the brutal aerial demands of the Premier League. More importantly, he is a natural left-footed, ball-playing center-back. Chelsea view him as an ideal anchor to solidify their long-term project at Stamford Bridge, while United, who are heavily rumoured to be revamping their entire defensive structure, see him as a generational talent capable of locking down the left side of their defense for the next decade. With his valuation already rumored to be hovering around the €40 million to €50 million (£35m-£45m) mark, a fierce, high-stakes bidding war is expected to take place this summer.

outrageous call