Raheem Sterling is set to become the first marquee signing under Chelsea’s new ownership after the West London club agreed a fee of upto £50m with Manchester City. The England forward has already agreed personal terms with Thomas Tuchel’s side.
It is reported that the five-year contract will make Sterling the highest earner at Stamford Bridge, with the 27-year-old set to make a whopping £300,000 a week. The player will be presented to the Chelsea faithful after he passes the standard medical examination.
DONE DEAL: Total agreement between #Chelsea & #ManCity on the fee for #RaheemSterling: £47.5m. Personal terms agreed since earlier. #Sterling will sign a long-term 5 year contract with option for more. Next is medicals in London .🤝🔵🏴
[Source: @David_Ornstein] pic.twitter.com/vG7gbVMMif
— FootballNotified (@FBNotified) July 9, 2022
Sterling began his youth career at Queens Park Rangers before moving to Liverpool. He broke into the Reds’ first team as a 17-year-old, going on to make 129 appearances and score 23 goals for the club. After a contract dispute, Liverpool sold Sterling to Manchester City for £49m in 2015.
Under Pep Guardiola, Sterling became quite successful with the Citizens, making 339 appearances for the club and scoring 131 goals. He won nine major trophies in his time at Manchester, including four Premier League titles. But his place in Guardiola’s starting lineup has come under threat after the emergence of Phil Foden and the £100m signing of Jack Grealish.
This has allowed Chelsea to pounce, with the club hoping that the man with 77 England caps can provide the goal-threat their other attackers seem to be missing. Sterling starred for England at Euro 2020 and the Blues will want him to fill the void left by Romelu Lukaku – who was bought last summer for £97m but has returned to Inter on loan after a terrible season.
Last time out against Germany…
⚽️ @sterling7 pic.twitter.com/u1VAkiO9KE
— England (@England) June 6, 2022
The transfer will be a huge boost to new chairman Todd Boehly, with the American also participating in transfer negotiations as interim sporting director. The fact that the deal came through despite rumoured interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid in Sterling bodes well for the post-Roman Abramovich era.
The departures of first-team centre-backs Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger mean that Chelsea will look to reinforce defensively as well. Talks are in an advanced stage with another City player, Nathan Ake, to return to his boyhood club. Other targets include Sevilla’s Jules Kounde, Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus, PSG man Presnel Kimpembe and Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly.