Raheem Sterling has a little over a week to tie up and exit from Chelsea.
Enzo Maresca has made it clear the 29-year-old England international does not feature in his plans and his No.7 shirt has been passed on to new signing Pedro Neto.
But where will the former Manchester City winger land next? Despite an underwhelming couple of years at Stamford Bridge, a player of Sterling’s calibre will always provoke interest.
However, throw those £325,000 ($426,448) p/w wages into the equation and you have a further complicating factor.
Here, we look through some possible destinations for Raheem.
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Aston Villa
A move to a club in this season’s Champions League would arguably represent an unlikely step up for Sterling. The Guardian reports that Aston Villa have held talks over a move for Sterling and Unai Amery is keen to add another attacker as his squad prepare for the added challenge of elite European football. A loan deal could come into play as both parties seek to address the wage issue.
Crystal Palace
This option would allow Londoner Sterling to stay in his home city and, although it represents a relative step down from where he’s spent his career to date, becoming the new darling of a passionate Selhurst Park fanbase could be just what he needs to reignite. After a report by The Daily Mail saying Sterling was on Palace’s radar, Eagles’ boss Oliver Glasner said: “Raheem Sterling is a fantastic player but it doesn’t mean he will be a Crystal Palace player. He’s a great player but I don’t know what will happen with him.”
Juventus
According to the Mail, Juve had already registered an interest in Sterling before his situation at Chelsea deteriorated so dramatically. Once again, wages could be a stumbling block but if Federico Chiesa’s mooted move to Barcelona comes to fruition the Englishman would be a marquee replacement.
Arsenal
Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard mean the Gunners are hardly short of high-quality wide attacking options and that trio have seen their careers head in the opposite direction to Sterling’s over the past couple of years. However, on Friday Mikel Arteta spoke warmly of his time working with Sterling as assistant coach at Manchester City and these two London rivals are hardly strangers when it comes to doing business with each other.
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Manchester City
Ilkay Gundogan’s swift return to the Etihad Stadium from Barcelona shows City are not averse to bringing their old boys home and Pep Guardiola is in the market for additional attacking cover following Julian Alvarez’s move to Atletico Madrid. However, it’s widely accepted that Sterling did not leave Manchester on the same sunny terms as Gunodgan and it’s hard to foresee a reunion.
Guardiola was asked about re-signing Sterling at his Friday press conference and said: “He’s a Chelsea player, absolutely. I feel so attached to the time we lived together with Raheem, and Enzo [Marseca was Guardiola’s assistant during the 2022/23 season]. So I just wish him all the best, but he’s of course, a Chelsea player.”
