Arsenal: Raheem Sterling revelation shows nothing has been learned

Arsenal were all in on a swap deal to send Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City in return for Raheem Sterling. Have we learned nothing?

Arsenal nearly completed a massive deadline day swaparoo that would have seen Alexis Sanchez sent to Manchester City. All the deal depended on was the Gunners securing the signature of Thomas Lemar.

However, it’s now sounding like that wasn’t the only option. Pep Guardiola had this to say about the transfer talks (as quoted by the Metro):

"When we started to speak with Arsenal in the last days, they wanted to make a swap with Raz [Raheem Sterling]. They talked to me and I said ‘no chance. zero chance. Not one per cent chance we will swap Raz because I trust a lot in him.’ Twenty-two years old, English player, there is a lot of room to improve."

Which means I finally have something to appreciate Guardiola for.

I don’t get why Arsenal would even consider taking Reheem Sterling as a replacement for Alexis Sanchez, unless of course they had planned to land Lemar as well. But even still, Sterling follows along the same string of English forwards that we have had before.

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How frustrated do we get at Theo Walcott for not being able to be a more effective forward? For 10 years we have waited and he still hasn’t improved from his goal-poaching.

How annoyed do we get that Danny Welbeck can’t finish?

You can even lump Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain into this. All dark-alley runners of England who can run and dribble just great but have no final product. Which is what matters the most.

I compared Sterling to Gervinho on Deadline Day and I stand by that too, although back then I didn’t actually believe that this deal was talked about.

What makes Lemar different? Lemar knows how to finish. He has scored some thumping goals. He knows how to deliver a killer pass. And, despite all that, he can still dribble just as well as these other guys too.

In Lemar’s first ever big year he scored double digit goals and assists. Sterling has been trying to do that for years and he hasn’t been able to.

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This is utter nonsense and it makes me a tad uneasy that we were considering Sterling as an actual replacement for Alexis. The only good this would have done is, assuming we got cash along with, it would have given us something in return for the Chilean as opposed to just losing him on a free next summer.