Raheem Sterling has finally left Chelsea after being ostracised at Stamford Bridge but now has the chance to prove he is not finished just yet
Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling was frozen out at Chelsea(Image: Getty Images)
View 2 Images
Raheem Sterling deserved better than his awkward exit from Chelsea. Sterling has enjoyed a stellar career, a four-time Premier League winner with Manchester City and 82 caps for England. A brilliant talent.
He has also been a powerful voice on racism, a leader in the dressing room and someone other players look up to and respect.
That should not be forgotten as he departs Stamford Bridge after three-and-a-half years which have not panned out how anyone would have chosen.
Now, Sterling will have the freedom, as a free agent, to choose his next move carefully and is open to all offers whether that is in the Premier League or abroad.
He is 31 but he is still ambitious, still has great pace and the ability which took him to the very top of English football.
And at least this ending is good for all parties because Chelsea can move on as they have reached agreement on terminating the remaining 18 months left on his £325,000-a-week contract.
Plus Sterling is free to find another club and a new challenge. He had been reluctant to go out on loan if it had meant uprooting his family from London but now is more flexible because he can lay down roots.
Footballers get paid extremely well but they still have families and they still want success. No-one can seriously imagine that Sterling was satisfied just sitting on the remainder of his contract.
He is way too talented and also it is so destructive to leave a player rotting in the background with no hope of ever playing anywhere near the first team again.
Raheem Sterling
Out of the door: Raheem Sterling leaves Chelsea(Image: Getty Images)
View 2 Images
Sterling is super-bright, intelligent and has been proud to be an example for young people through his charitable work. That should never be overlooked.
He has also been a powerful voice on racism and spoke up, making a real difference when exposing the differences between how some players are treated.
All this seems to be a tribute to a player at the end of a career when, actually, he still feels he has a lot to offer.
He is a supremely talented player and you do not play for Liverpool and then Manchester City - under Pep Guardiola - without being the best in your position.
When the City fans used to chant: “Raheem Sterling - he’s top of the league” it used to mock supporters of other clubs who did not fully appreciate him.
A brilliant dribbler, a scorer of big goals and a big game player which he proved time and again for England. Roy Hodgson made him England’s No10 at the 2014 World Cup when he was still a teenager.
Sterling was England’s best player at the “home Euros” in 2021 and he has always been so passionate about playing for his country.
He could have stayed at City in 2022 but instead went to Chelsea for £50m - and, for once, his timing was awful. The club soon changed direction under different owners, they wanted rid of old contracts in favour of a new style of a lower basic wage with longer deals.
Suddenly, Sterling found himself caught in the slipstream and then out in the cold at the start of the 2024/25 season and was farmed out to Arsenal where he barely got a look-in but there were glimpses of the old magic.
This is a sorry tale of modern football. But Sterling is not the one who should be painted as the villain of the piece. Clubs who give out contracts should honour them. They cannot just bully and force players out of the door when it suits them.
Sterling has been right to stand up for himself and his family. He has the talent and the mentality to rise again. He deserves to be remembered as one of England’s best players of his generation - because that is exactly who he is.
Content Image
Content Image