“You’re about to see the best of me.” Those were Raheem Sterling’s words on his first visit to Sobha Realty Training Centre on transfer deadline day.
We’ve had to wait two weeks throughout the September international break before the first opportunity potentially presents itself for Raheem to show our supporters what he can do on the pitch. A first Arsenal appearance in a north London derby would be some introduction, and Raheem would be the first player to do that since Isaiah Rankin back in 1997.
No Gunner has netted debuting against Spurs since 1935, but Mikel Arteta believes that the drive the England international has shown so far means he's going to make an impact sooner rather than later in our colours.
“He looks great,” Mikel said in his pre-match press conference. “First of all, because he’s got a big smile on his face, a lot of energy, he’s at it and wants to prove a point. When someone’s got that in his belly, you sense it straight away. Obviously I don’t need to discover anything about his quality and what he can bring to the team.
“What I see is hunger and a player that wants to play every minute of every game. When it’s not the case, he’s not happy. He loves football, it’s what he likes doing every single day and I see that.
“His commitment, the level of energy that he’s bringing to the team and the quality is a big push. You can feel it with the players as well. When he’s walking through the door, we are better with him and he’s going to make us better.”
Mikel worked closely with Raheem from 2016 to 2019, when our manager was an assistant coach at Manchester City. Sterling was on fine form during those years, particularly in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, when he totalled 48 goals and 27 assists in 97 appearances in all competitions.
“Obviously in his personal life a lot of things have changed since we were together,” Mikel explained. “The first call I had with him, I knew straight away after 10 seconds, we have to bring him because he really wanted it, you know. And that was my only question mark, what stage is he at in his career, but I knew already after 10 seconds. Bring him here.
“He has this ability and the credit for that is him and the players that he has around him. You need that if you’re one of the front players. He has that intuition, that will and ability to do that. I’m sure he’s going to impact the team.”