Chelsea plan Raheem Sterling transfer

Chelsea hope to sign Raheem Sterling from Manchester City, as the Premier League champions hope to avoid losing him for nothing when his contract expires next season. Raheem Sterling is interested in moving to Chelsea after new owner Todd Boehly made the forward his top summer transfer target.

Sterling, at 28, holds a desire to play abroad and held talks with Barcelona late last year over a potential loan deal after failing to start the season in City’s lineup under Guardiola.

Thomas Tuchel is a big admirer of Sterling, with the Blues boss believing the forward is better suited to Chelsea’s style of play than Romelu Lukaku, who is set to go out on loan back to former club Inter Milan next season.

The first bid rejected

Manchester City have turned down an approach from Chelsea for Raheem Sterling. The England winger is a key target for the London club as they look to refresh their front line. City may consider Sterling expendable, given he was not a guaranteed starter towards the tail end of last season.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea put in a bid of around 25 million euros plus add-ons for Sterling. Such a figure was rejected out right, as City want roughly double the fee to convince them to part with Sterling.

They are also looking to sell striker Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal for a similar fee of around 55/60 million euros.

Sterling, the 28-year-old, has played 339 times for the current top-flight champions, scoring 131 goals – just outside the top 10 in the club’s all-time goalscorers list.

He began his career at Queens Park Rangers before signing for Liverpool in 2010. He was awarded the Golden Boy award in 2014. In July 2015, following a lengthy dispute over a new contract, he was signed by Manchester City in a transfer potentially worth 49 million pounds, the highest transfer fee ever paid for an English player at the time. 

He went on to help Manchester City win back-to-back Premier League titles in the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons. In the 2018–19 season, he was named to the PFA Premier League Team of the Year and won the PFA Young Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year.

Regardless of what fee is to be agreed upon, it is looking clear now that Sterling will become one of the first signings of the Boehly era at Stamford Bridge, with Jules Kounde and Ousmane Dembele also strongly linked.