Chelsea could replace Sterling with academy gem who's like Bernardo Silva

Chelsea could replace Sterling with academy gem who’s like Bernardo Silva

It has been a topsy-turvy couple of weeks for Chelsea football club to say the least.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side drew at home to Aston Villa in the FA Cup, lost away to Liverpool and at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League before finally blowing the Villans away at Villa Park in the replay.

While the Pensioners have been off the boil more often than not this season, you never can quite tell which version of them will turn up on any given matchday – although you are guaranteed entertainment.

However, one star who has been reliably disappointing of late is Raheem Sterling, and if he’s not careful, he could be replaced by a highly gifted academy ace who has won favourable comparisons to the exceptional Bernardo Silva.

Raheem Sterling’s season in numbers

Now, the first thing to note is that Sterling can be a world-class player, and his record for Manchester City is a testament to that, but his time in west London has left a lot to be desired.

The Kingston-born winger had a reasonable first season at Stamford Bridge, scoring nine goals and providing four assists in 38 appearances, but he wasn’t quite as brilliant as fans were hoping he’d be.

Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea Career So Far

Season

2022/23

2023/24

Appearances

38

29

Goals

9

7

Assists

4

8

Goal Involvements per Match

0.34

0.51

All Stats via Transfermarkt

It has been much of the same this campaign as well, with the Englishman scoring seven goals and providing eight assists in his 29 appearances under Poch, but the bigger problem is that he has only scored one goal since 25 November, which came in the club’s 4-0 drubbing of Preston North End in early January.

It’s not like he hasn’t had opportunities either, as he’s made 14 appearances in that time and missed some significant chances, like the one against Wolves on the weekend.

The 29-year-old is an undeniably talented footballer, you don’t win 82 England caps and score 131 goals for City if you’re not, but his form is concerning, and he could lose out to one of Cobham’s most promising gems if he doesn’t rediscover his scoring touch soon.

Why fans should be excited about Omari Hutchinson

Omari Hutchinson is the Chelsea youngster who could well force himself into the first team ahead of the former City ace next season, and he first joined the club in the summer of 2022, when he left cross-city rivals Arsenal at age 18.

Since then, the “golden” talent, as talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbed him, has made 25 appearances for the Blues’ U21 side, in which he scored eight goals and provided ten assists, meaning he averaged a goal involvement every 1.3 games – an undeniably impressive return for his first season with the squad.

Omari Hutchinson’s Chelsea Youth Career

Season

2022/23

Appearances

25

Goals

8

Assists

10

Goal Involvements per Match

0.72

All Stats via Transfermarkt

While still playing with the U21s, the Redhill-born dynamo debuted for the first team, coming on as a substitute against Man City in their Premier League clash. He would make one more cameo appearance for the side in the FA Cup – also against City – before the end of the season.

With youth team football clearly too easy for the “dangerous” prospect, as former manager Graham Potter described him, Hutchinson has spent this season on loan with Championship high-flyers Ipswich Town.

While it can often be a tough league to adjust to for youngsters, he has taken like a duck to water and has made 33 appearances for the Tractor Boys thus far.

Even though his return of three goals and three assists might be somewhat lower than he’d have hoped for at this point in the season, manager Kieran McKenna has been full of praise for him and described the youngster as “outstanding” after he scored the winning goal against Southampton earlier in the campaign.

How Hutchinson compares to Bernardo Silva

Finally, if you still need convincing that the Blues have a genuinely impressive talent on their hands, then comparisons to multiple league winner and world-class midfielder Silva ought to do it.

Now, that might sound like an awful lot of pressure to put on the shoulders of someone so young, but the comparison comes from talent scout Kulig, who claimed that the City star is one of the most “similar” players to Hutchinson about a year and a half ago.

According to Kulig, this comparison stems from the 20-year-old’s impressive “dribbling”, his “ball control”, and his “flair”, which are all traits he shares with the Portuguese international.

However, the pair undeniably share one more key trait: positional versatility.

Silva has spent much of his career bouncing back and forth between playing as an attacking midfielder and a rightwinger, making 134 appearances as the former and 129 as the latter.

Omari Hutchinson & Bernardo Silva’s Positional Versatility

Hutchinson

Position

Silva

34 appearances

Attacking Midfield

134 appearances

42 appearances

Rightwing

129 appearances

10 appearances

Leftwing

11 appearances

All Stats via Transfermarkt

Similarly, Hutchinson has also been deployed all over the pitch in his career as a youth player and at the senior level, making 42 appearances at right wing, 34 in attacking midfield and he has also made ten at left wing, suggesting that he might be even more versatile than the former AS Monaco ace.

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The extraordinarily decorated pro has been tearing it up since leaving Stamford Bridge.

While the former Hale End prospect’s playing style might diverge from Silva’s down the line, the similarities are clear as day as things stand, and while he might not end up with a trophy cabinet as full as the City star, he’s a great player for him to model his game after.

Ultimately, if Sterling can rediscover his form of old for next season, then the Blues will be significantly better off, but if he can’t, then introducing the unreal Hutchinson could also improve the team. It’s a win-win.