Rio Ferdinand has sided with Raheem Sterling following the forwards public fallout with head coach Enzo Maresca and Chelsea.
The former Manchester United and England defender has backed Sterling’s decisions to take to social media as he was left stunned after being excluded from the Blues Premier League opening day squad against Manchester City.
Ferdinand claimed that he ‘would have done’ the same following the Blues ‘wild treatment’ of the four-time Premier League winner.
And has slammed Chelsea over the fact that ‘there wasn’t any communication to him’ before it was revealed he wouldn’t feature in Maresca’s opening day squad and would have to train away from the first team players.
Speaking on TNT Sports build-up of Manchester United vs Brighton, Ferdinand revealed that he believes one of the biggest things which forced Sterling to take to social media was a lack of respect and communication from Chelsea.
Rio Ferdinand has sided with Raheem Sterling following his treatment from Chelsea
The four-time Premier League winner was criticised for releasing a statement on social media
‘I think that’s one of the biggest things. I think respect both ways, from the club’s point of view, but also the players.
‘I think a lot was made of Raheem Sterling’s statement, but I think the noise is that I’m hearing that there was, there wasn’t any communication to him.
‘And I think communication is probably one of the key words as well.
‘If there’s no communication from above as to what your role is going to be, given that you’ve been probably playing most parts of the preseason games and all of a sudden, on the eve of kick off at a season, you’re not involved.
‘You told your surplus to requirements, but the hierarchy aren’t communicating that, then you have to force the hand of the people in with the power to come and talk and get to the table.
‘And I think that’s what Raheem Sterling, that was the point of his statement. Because I would have done that.
‘Yeah, he was criticized. I would have done that. I would have, I would have forced the hand of the of the owners to say, Listen, you need to come and tell them what’s going on’ he added.
Despite clocking up an impressive amount of minutes in pre-season Sterling has been told to train away from the first team as he is not in Enzo Maresca’s plans
Maresca revealed that Sterling and Ben Chilwell were not in his plans for the season ahead
Ferdinand continued his justification of Sterling’s decision to take to social media whilst also questioning Chelsea’s handling of the players they don’t have a plan for or see a future with per say.
He said ‘I think that the any player within the squad over here, either one of the experienced or the young players, the way you communicate these, these messages or the plans are so important, because the reaction you need a good reaction.
‘You could go look at someone like Raheem, sir. He’s probably his contract, probably 50, 60 million still sitting on the table three years left.
‘Yeah. So you’ve got to handle a player who’s got that much money to still gain at the football club with care and with respect, because he might just sit there and go, you know, the way you treated me, I ain’t gonna go nowhere now. I’m gonna sit, sit tight.
Since Todd Boehly took over Chelsea in May 2022, Stamford Bridge has seen 39 new signings in just over two years.
With the clubs most recent signing Joao Felix arriving from Atletico Madrid, with Conor Gallagher going the opposite way.
Already the Blues have made over ten signings this summer, with their first squad now registering over forty players.
Since Todd Boehly took ownership of the club in May 2022, 39 players have arrived to Stanford Bridge in just over two years
Chelsea will hope to offload some of these players but it is proving a difficult ask and Ferdinand has warned Chelsea that they must talk with their players to avoid any future public bashings.
‘But I just think the communication, I think any, the only bit advice I have for any incoming owners of football clubs coming in now in the future, is please just communicate with the fan base and the players in the right way, because without communication, it leads to hysteria and a lack of understanding and just noise.
‘And you surely do not want that when you’re when your owners of definitely have a new football club, give the direction where you looking to go, what you’re looking to do.
‘And I think that at the moment, like Joe said, it’s difficult to understand what Chelsea, you’re doing right now, because the influx of so many players and the kind of disarray that seems to be going on behind the scenes.’
