Raheem Sterling is supposed to become a Chelsea player next week, with the west London club now working on logistics behind his medical and official unveiling.
The 27-year-old will join for $57 million after Manchester City accepted the last bid Chelsea made. The Athletic reports Sterling agreed on personal terms with Chelsea on a five-year contract. A clause to extend for a potential sixth year has also been inserted.
Sterling and Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel have spoken about life at the club. The England international was seduced by his new coach’s vision of what the team should look like. Raheem spent seven years at City, scoring 131 times in 339 matches in all competitions. He joined from Liverpool in July 2015. At City, Sterling won four Premier League titles, as well as the FA Cup and three League Cups. City’s summer signings made Sterling unsure of his team status for next season, with the attacker keen to play as much as possible to consolidate his form ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
Guardiola added Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez to his attacking power, accepting to sell Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal. Sterling is the second big departure for City during the current transfer window. Raheem only started 23 of City’s 38 Premier League matches last season, five less than the previous campaign. Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, and Riyad Mahrez were also direct competition to Sterling for a place in the starting line-up.
Sterling is the first major piece of transfer business Chelsea did since the takeover from Roman Abramovich. Todd Boehly, the Chelsea co-owner, and interim sporting director, conducted negotiations and made the transfer happen.
Is Ronaldo the next Chelsea hit?
Cristiano Ronaldo remains firm in his attempt of quitting Manchester United as soon as possible. Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes has been talking to Boehly in Portugal about a potential Chelsea bid for the five-time ‘Ballon d’Or’ winner, but a firm move is yet to be made by any of those involved.
What is clear is that Ronaldo is not part of Erik ten Hag’s plans for the first phase of preparation ahead of next season. The Man. United star attacker did not train all week and was not on the flight that took the players to their summer tour of Thailand and Australia.
Ronaldo scored 24 times last season, leading the ranks inside the Man. United squad. Odds have him at +110 to join Chelsea. The bookies place United at +160 to keep him, with a transfer to Bayern Munich at +330 and a move to FC Barcelona at +600.
AS Roma and Napoli are also said to be interested in landing the 37-year-old, but the financial package for such a transfer is currently above their possibilities.