The deal to bring Raheem Sterling to Arsenal happened very quickly.
The Gunners were on the market for a new attacker all summer and they were linked with many names. Nico Williams was the winger Arsenal really wanted.
However, the Euro 2024 star decided to stay at Athletic Bilbao, so Arsenal had to consider other options. Sterling emerged as one late in the window.
After holding talks with Chelsea and securing a very favourable deal, Edu Gaspar decided to bring him in, but it was what Sterling said in a phone call that convinced Mikel Arteta to sign him.
Raheem Sterling’s six-word message to Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta
Arsenal signed Sterling on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea very late on transfer deadline day.
The Gunners secured a stunning deal. Arsenal aren’t paying a penny in loan fees for Sterling and are only covering about a third of the England international’s wages.
To add to that, there is no obligation to make this move permanent in 2025, which makes this a risk-free deal for the Premier League runners-up.
In the embargoed section of his press conference, Arteta was asked to expand on the above, and he revealed the first thing that Sterling said to him when they spoke on the phone.
That convinced Arteta to sign him.
He said, as quoted by Vavel: “His first words were ‘I was dreaming of this call’.
“That’s it, you know? That tells you that he really wanted [it]. He was already thinking about the possibility, and he could see himself here and delivering and enjoying his profession again.
“So when that happened, the rest I knew about it [about Sterling], so that took all the question marks [about whether to sign him] away.”
Sterling could do something vs Tottenham for the first time in 89 years
Arsenal take on Tottenham in the North London Derby on Sunday, and Sterling is in line to make his Gunners debut.
The Englishman will become an instant hero if he can score and help Arteta’s side pick up a win against Spurs, and we’re sure every Arsenal fan is hoping for that.
Irrespective of the result, if Sterling does score against Tottenham on Sunday, he will become the first Arsenal player to score on his debut for the club in the North London Derby since Alf Kirchen all the way back in 1935.
That would be an amazing achievement, and the fact that Sterling has looked really sharp in Arsenal training over the international break is really promising.
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