Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has told Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi to stop feeling sorry for themselves after the pair were frozen out at Stamford Bridge. The Italian compared their situation to the graft of his 75 year old father who still earns his living as a fisherman.
Maresca was pressed on why Sterling and Disasi remain banished from the first team with no sign of a way back. The Professional Footballers Association has raised concerns and is pushing to ensure the outcasts can still train properly while they wait for the January transfer window.
Maresca said his father has worked from two in the morning until ten for five decades and called that a hard life not the situation facing highly paid footballers.
Sterling is Chelsea’s top earner on more than three hundred thousand pounds a week. He has two years left on his contract but has not played a single game under Maresca. The 30 year old was loaned to Arsenal last season where he failed to shine and has been left to train alone at Cobham. He recently posted an Instagram picture of himself working under the floodlights late at night.
Disasi is on around a third of Sterling’s wages and is tied down until 2029 yet he is also training separately from the squad.
Maresca admitted the pair’s exile is not ideal but insisted it happens at every big club in every country when players and clubs cannot agree on the future. He stressed Chelsea are giving them the tools to train but repeated that if a player is not in the squad then he is not in the squad.
Sterling’s treatment has split opinion. The winger is a four time Premier League champion with 82 England caps and 194 career goals. Former striker Gabby Agbonlahor blasted Chelsea on talkSPORT saying the club is disrespecting a player of Sterling’s stature and warned about the mental health impact on both Sterling and Disasi.
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