CBS football journalist Ben Jacobs was speaking to The Gooner Talk YouTube channel and there he has reasoned that Raheem Sterling is keen to join Spurs if he decides to leave Manchester City.
Over the past few days, Arsenal have registered an interest in the England international despite him already being linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur. The 27-year-old might fall down the pecking order now that Erling Haaland is coming to Man City and as per the journalist, Sterling wants Antonio Conte to be his next manager.
“From what I gather, should he leave Manchester City, Tottenham are ahead of Arsenal in that particular pursuit,” he said. “So if Sterling is to join Arsenal then Edu and Arteta are going to have to move quite quickly.
“I think Sterling is very intent, even though he knows Arteta very well, to play under Conte as his next manager if he is to make a move.
“The reason for that is that Tottenham have given him guarantees about style and about position.
“Tottenham’s pitch [to him] is ‘let’s get you back to doing what you do best,’ which is scoring goals.
Raheem Sterling has scored 15 goals in all competitions this season, only Riyad Mahrez has scored more for Man City (24).
Well-worked opener. 👏 pic.twitter.com/gD2Gs6gYeh
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) May 8, 2022
“Arsenal’s pitch is going to be “let’s get you back to what you did at the beginning of your career” which is being a very fluid, very versatile wide player who cuts inside.
“So actually I think this is about development and what direction he’s going to head.
“I don’t think Arteta and Arsenal are prepared to tell Sterling he would join the football club and be relied upon as the main source of goals.”
Is Raheem Sterling going to choose Spurs over Arsenal?
We can agree with the fact that a player like Raheem Sterling will want to work with Antonio Conte instead of Mikel Arteta but if Spurs cannot grab Champions League football, there’s no way Sterling will want to join them.
Raheem Sterling becomes the second player to score 50 Premier League goals at the Etihad Stadium, after Sergio Aguero 💙 pic.twitter.com/ZolZoQq32M
— GOAL (@goal) May 8, 2022
The winger will definitely want to sign for a club who are playing in the Champions League next season and at this point in time, Arsenal are the favourites to grab hold of that laurel.
If Spurs miss out on top-tier European football then they will not only miss out on Raheem Sterling but even Antonio Conte might abandon them and head elsewhere. Conte has already given feelers of wanting to join PSG and if Tottenham finish outside of the top-four then the Italian has a massive chance of leaving.
The winger’s current deal with Man City expires in 2023 so there’s no doubt that Arsenal and Tottenham will test the waters at the end of the current season but some rumours have also hinted that despite signing players like Grealish and Haaland, Pep Guardiola is not keen to let Raheem Sterling leave at the end of this season.
