Henry Roldán
One of the biggest moves of the pre-season is about to be completed with the departure of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City.
According to BBC Sports, the striker is reportedly on his way to Chelsea despite still having one season left on his contract with City.
If the deal is completed, Sterling, who has 77 England caps, will become Chelsea’s first major signing since they were taken over this summer by a consortium led by Todd Boehly.
The player has reportedly already reached a verbal agreement with the London club, and while his relationship with City and Guardiola is very good, the striker feels that this is the biggest professional challenge of his career.
Let’s recall that Raheem Sterling joined Manchester City in 2015 from Liverpool for £49 million.
Other top clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich were also interested in him, but the player was swayed by Chelsea’s publicly and privately stated desire to sign him.
Furthermore, the 27-year-old was impressed by Blues coach Thomas Tuchel’s ambitions and the position he has in mind for him in his starting XI.
Raheem Sterling’s numbers at Manchester City
Under Pep Guardiola’s era, Raheem Sterling became one of the best strikers in the Premier League.
Proof of this is that, since the Spanish coach took over the team in 2016, his 120 goals have ranked second only to Sergio Agüero’s 124.
However, in the last season he lost relevance within Guardiola’s formation, and although he scored 13 goals in 30 matches, in important moments, such as the Champions League semifinal, he started from the bench.
At Chelsea the situation will surely change, especially now that Erling Halaand and Julian Alvarez have arrived in Manchester to strengthen the attack.
