Chelsea have been unable to secure a transfer for Raheem Sterling before the summer transfer deadline, and he looks set to remain with the club this season.
LONDON, ENGLAND: Raheem Sterling of Arsenal during the Carabao Cup Quarter Final match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium on December 18, 2024. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
After an underwhelming loan spell with Arsenal, Raheem Sterling returned to Chelsea at the end of June, and the plan was always to move him on.
Simon Johnson reports for The Athletic that Sterling has been training away from the Chelsea first-team squad this summer, as he’s not part of their plans. The Blues fielded various enquiries over the last few months, but nothing progressed into a transfer.
Though there are still some countries with open transfer windows, like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Sterling isn’t interested in those moves. So unless something changes, he’s staying where he is.
Raheem Sterling in training with Arsenal (Photo via Arsenal.com)
Photo via Arsenal.com
That’s a problem for Chelsea, because Sterling still has two years left on his contract as the club’s highest-paid player. The winger is earning over £300,000 a week and he’s not even taking part in team training. If he sees out his deal, Chelsea will have to pay him well over £30m.
But it was also a very predictable problem. After Sterling’s loan to Arsenal last season, in which the Gunners paid less than a third of his wages, it was always unlikely he’d attract much interest.
Sterling made 28 appearances for Arsenal, but he scored just one goal and assisted five. He probably wasn’t even justifying the £100,000-a-week wages the Gunners were reportedly paying him, let alone the more than £300,000 he was bringing in from both clubs.
LONDON, ENGLAND: Raheem Sterling of Arsenal looks on, while sitting on the substitutes bench during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Arsenal FC at Craven Cottage on December 08, 2024. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
From Sterling’s point of view, he’s earning £1m every few weeks just to keep himself fit with Chelsea, at home in London.
Why would he uproot his family and slash his wages by the significant amounts necessary to secure a transfer when most of the continent’s top clubs probably aren’t interested in him right now anyway?
If a club like Barcelona came in for him (suspend your disbelief for a moment), then perhaps you could justify taking a major pay cut for the chance to keep competing at the top. But those kinds of options aren’t on the table.
Maybe there’s still a world where Sterling can break back into the Chelsea squad. Even if not, staying where he is currently looks like an attractive option on a human level.
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