Controversy over Raheem Sterling‘s future at Chelsea has become a talking point as his management team reportedly sought “clarity” from the club following his omission from their league opener against champions Manchester City on Sunday.

“Our expectation was that Raheem would be involved in this weekend’s fixture,” representatives for the England forward shared in a statement BBC Sports reports.

image

Sterling who has been involved in every Premier League opening weekend fixture since 2013 was a very noticeable absentee from the team sheet, becoming an overshadowing topic of discussion in the lead-up to the fixture.

‘it was a technical decision,..managers are paid to make decisions and sometimes players don’t like [them],” new manager Enzo Maresca noted speaking to Sky Sports.

Maresca, however, opened his Chelsea stint in disappointment as they went 2-0 following goals from Erling Haaland and Mateo Kovaćić in the 18th and 84th minutes.