Mauricio Pochettino has promised Raheem Sterling that if the player works with him, he will be reinstated to the England team in time for Euro 2024.

The attacker has returned to form similar to his time at Manchester City thanks to a grueling preseason, much to the delight of Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri. Despite this, Gareth Southgate did not recall Sterling for England in last week’s internationals.

When Chelsea play Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth side on Sunday, Sterling will be facing his former club’s fans for the first time since his £47 million transfer from City.

As we were talking, we told him, “We are going to help you to earn your way back into the national team. If you perform well with your club, the coach will take notice, and you’ll have a better chance of making the national team.Pochettino has stated that he ‘hated’ Sterling as an opposing coach due of the difficulties he presented to his team. Now I want to have fun with him!

I’m glad for him since he seems happy all the time. Our ultimate goal is to improve the players’ moods. He’s a veteran player who can guide the development of the younger players. I am really pleased with his work and behavior during the past two weeks. I’m hoping all of his hard effort pays off for him in the game.

Not only Sterling, but also the slew of young players signed in the Todd Boehly-Behdad Eghbali £1 billion binge but yet to deliver, such as Mykhailo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandes, and Marc Cucurella, have been referenced by Pochettino as a reference point for patience from Chelsea fans.

Since Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, and Wesley Fofana are all injured, the onus is on the summer’s most notable additions, such as Moises Caicedo, Nicolas Jackson, Axel Disai, and Cole Palmer, to rapidly make an impact.

The expectations at Chelsea are always really high, according to Pochettino. The statement “They’re not performing and we paid money and they need to perform at this [level]” is unfair, though.

I often provide the same example of Real Madrid’s signing of Zinedine Zidane for $70–$80 million. After six months, Bernabeu supporters could have wondered, “What have we bought?” Zidane was 26 when he finally began to play to his potential, which took seven or eight months. Be wary of bringing in a player that is 18–20 years old because they are not robots.