Joe Cole terms this Chelsea summer signing ‘brave’ for making Stamford Bridge switch

Joe Cole credits Raheem Sterling for the brave decision to move to swap Manchester City for Chelsea

According to his column in the Telegraph (h/t Football.London), former Chelsea star Joe Cole has credited Raheem Sterling for a brave move to join the club from Manchester City in the summer.

The 27-year-old signed for the Blues for a move that cost £47.5m. He has played in every game bar one so far this season, showing how important he is to the team.

Despite doing so much for City and being one of the key reasons why Pep Guardiola’s men had success in the last five years, Sterling was not one of the regular starters in the team. He opened up about his unhappiness at the Etihad before joining Chelsea.

Talking about the player’s brave decision, here’s Cole (h/t Football.London):

“Raheem has come out of that Manchester City machine and is adapting to something new. It takes time to do that when you move from one big club to another, and I admire him for making the move.

“At City he was a great of the club for what he had won and also for the goals he had scored. But he took the decision to start again at another giant of the Premier League and that takes some bravery.”

After a recent lull in form after a promising start at Stamford Bridge, Sterling scored a good goal against Dinamo Zagreb to arrest some of the slide.

He received some criticism after the Blues’ defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion last weekend, with club legend Pat Nevin claiming that the player is not even in consideration to play for England in the World Cup.

Although his form has come down a bit in the last few weeks, it is not all down to him. The 27-year-old has been played in different positions by Graham Potter, a few times as a wing-back. The team itself is doing that great going forward even though they have been winning games.

It would have been easy for Sterling to stay at Manchester City, a club filled with top talents marshalled by one of the best coaches in the world. Winning trophies would be like a formality there.

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But, he has taken a brave decision to come to Chelsea because he wants to play regular football and earn his stripes of being an elite footballer for the remainder of his career.