Manchester City star Raheem Sterling is set to join Chelsea after agreeing on personal terms. The Blues are now putting the final touches on the deal with Manchester City for the England international.
Raheem Sterling, 27, has been a pivotal player for Manchester City, helping them win four Premier League titles in the last five seasons under Pep Guardiola. Since arriving at the Etihad Stadium from Liverpool back in 2015, he has gone on to net 131 goals, besides supplying 95 assists in 339 games in all formats.
However, the forward spent considerable time on the Man City bench last season, with Guardiola choosing the likes of Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez ahead of him on numerous occasions. And with Sterling entering the last 12 months on his contract, coupled with the Sky Blues signing forwards such as Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez, Guardiola has decided to cash in on the 27-year-old this summer.
Chelsea have almost agreed a guaranteed fee of around £45m with City, plus add-ons taking the full package to £55m. As the deal to take Sterling from City is on the brink of completion, let’s take a look at how he will fit in under Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea.
Raheem Sterling to Chelsea—How will he fit in?
Thomas Tuchel has been keen on signing a forward to bolster Chelsea’s attacking ranks after Romelu Lukaku’s departure to Inter Milan on loan. Lukaku was brought in last summer to score goals, but after a strong start to the season, he failed to deliver and lost the trust of Tuchel, which led to the Belgian being dropped.
The Pensioners’ struggles to score goals consistently last season has also led to questions about the futures of wide forwards Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech. Thus, Tuchel wants a goal-scoring forward that will walk straight into his starting XI and do the job. Raheem Sterling, in that regard, fits the bill perfectly at Stamford Bridge.
One of the Premier League’s top forwards, Sterling may appear to be an upgrade on Tuchel’s current attacking options and makes up for the void left by Lukaku. It is even more likely Chelsea will play without an out-and-out striker after allowing Lukaku to re-sign for Inter Milan, which could see Sterling slot in as a false 9 in Tuchel’s favoured 3-4-2-1 system.
The England international can operate anywhere across the front-line, and such versatility coupled with his ability to create and score goals in equal measure, make him all the more alluring to Chelsea. Should Tuchel go with the 4-3-3 system that he used a few times last season, Sterling could take either one of the wide areas and have plenty of joy linking with attacking talents like Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner, Mason Mount and Kai Havertz.
At 27, the ex-Liverpool ace is perhaps approaching the best years of his career. A serial winner too, Chelsea getting a top-quality player in Sterling for a fee of around £45m this summer represents a smashing piece of business.
I am Rohan Sengupta from one of the busiest cities in India, Mumbai. A Journalism graduate with a keen interest in sports, football is something I simply cannot live without and writing, discussing and analyzing the game is what I do 24*7.
