Raheem Sterling stance on terminating Arsenal loan deal comes to light

Raheem Sterling has no plans to end his Arsenal loan spell early, despite the winger's lack of minutes under Mikel Arteta.

Sterling has made just two Premier League starts since joining Arsenal on loan from Chelsea last summer. They both came back in October and Sterling has largely had to settle for a place on the bench, with Arteta preferring the likes of Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Ethan Nwaneri.

However, the Athletic are reporting that the possibility of Sterling returning to Chelsea next month 'has been ruled out'. The report states that the 30-year-old is 'fully focused on making an impact' in the second half of the season.

Arteta has previously insisted Sterling's lack of game time has not been due to "tactical reasons" and he remains confident the winger can still play an important role for Arsenal. "There's been moments," Arteta said earlier this month when asked about Sterling's situation.

"It's been tough and very difficult for me as well to accept that I haven't given him more. When he hasn't started the games, 90 per cent of the subs that I make is related to saving minutes or because of injuries or avoiding injuries.

"It's not tactical reasons. I would like him to play much more as I think he can impact the team in a very good way. He's very good in the dressing room and is absolutely desperate to play. He had this very important role, impacting every game, and suddenly you are in this position for a while.

"Not just here but at Chelsea as well. So it's always very difficult and I feel a lot of sympathy for players when they are in this moment. Hopefully we can change it."

Sterling is currently sidelined with a knee injury and Arteta has offered an update on his recovery. " He's going to be out for weeks," Arteta revealed. "He needs some further testing tomorrow to understand the extent of the injury.

"It's his knee and we have to wait another 24 hours, but unfortunately he's going to be out for a while. We have to look internally at what we have and be creative, do a very good exercise again [with Saka injured as well].

"How can we mould the squad? How can we adapt to the circumstances and be different? We cannot pretend to be the same. We're going to have to be different and try to find the best way to do it and be very competitive and win a lot of games."