Yaya Toure offers Raheem Sterling Chelsea verdict amid Marcus Rashford and Gabriel Martinelli snub

Chelsea news: Raheem Sterling's 2022/23 season has been dominated by injuries but the Blues forward could return against Aston Villa this weekend in what will be a major boost to Graham Potter

Chelsea star Raheem Sterling has endured a challenging first eight months in west London following his £47.5million summer move from Manchester City. The England international won 11 trophies, including four Premier League titles, during his eight years in Manchester, but embarked on a fresh challenge last summer that he has arguably yet to settle in to.

Despite having scored seven goals and grabbed three assists, Sterling has been plagued by fitness concerns and minor injuries for much of his time at the Blues. The departure of Thomas Tuchel and subsequent arrival of Graham Potter did not help matters either, with Sterling somewhat of a rotation casualty to allow the latter's team selection tinkering in the hopes of finding his favoured formation and best XI.

After playing for England at the 2022 World Cup, Sterling impressed on his return grabbing a goal and assist in Chelsea's first two Premier League games back. However, his momentum was halted by a hamstring injury that left him sidelined for just over a month.

Upon his return, Sterling scored a decisive goal in the Champions League victory over Borussia Dortmund, but another hamstring issue has seen him not play since. England manager Gareth Southgate also confirmed Sterling was "not fit" when explaining why he had left him out of the Three Lions' squad for the two European Championship qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine.

However, Sterling was pictured in Chelsea training on Tuesday along with Reece James who had left the England camp towards the end of last week. By his own lofty standards, it has been a disappointing season for Sterling, however Manchester City legend Yaya Toure believes he is still among the best left wingers in the world.

When asked by ESPN for his top three left-sided wingers, Toure said: “Three best left wingers? Okay if you go left, Leroy {Sane}, Raheem Sterling, love it, and Sadio Mane.”

Interestingly, alongside Sterling, Toure named Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane who both play for Bayern Munich. Despite the positional positional clash, according to transfermarkt, Sane has played most of his games on the left this season, while Mane has only featured three more times in a central role than in comparison to being deployed on the left of the attack.

Toure has certainly named three top quality attackers, but there are two Premier League stars who would likely pip all three for a spot. Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has scored 27 goals this season helping his boyhood club consolidate a position in the Premier League's top four.

Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli has also been in electric form this campaign scoring 13 goals in the Gunners' Premier League title charge, however neither have seemingly done enough to make Toure's list. Given the trio's long-standing dominance as excellent wingers it is possible that has influenced Toure's thought process, his own personal bias is possible as well as the midfielder has named two former Man City stars and a fellow African footballer.