By Tim Parsons-
Raheem Sterling has left Chelsea, bringing to an end a period of limbo that has lasted more than 18 months between the club and the former England international.
The 31-year-old has been training alone this season and has been kept apart from the rest of the first team, arriving and leaving at a different time to the squad and using a different building.
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Sterling who made his professional debut at Liverpool and later becoming a key player at Manchester City, where he won five Premier League titles and numerous other domestic trophies. He joined Chelsea in the summer of 2022 for a fee of around £47.5 million, marking the first major signing of the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership era. He signed a lucrative five-year, £325,000-a-week contract at the time.
However, his time at Stamford Bridge proved disappointing. He made 81 appearances for the club, scoring 19 times, but struggled to find consistency amidst frequent managerial changes, including Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Frank Lampard, and Mauricio Pochettino.
The situation deteriorated in the summer of 2024 when new manager Enzo Maresca decided Sterling was not in his plans, effectively ending his first-team role. Sterling was made to train separately with the so-called “bomb squad” at the club’s training base.
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He spent the entirety of the 2024-25 season on an underwhelming loan spell at Arsenal, where he made 28 appearances but scored only once. Upon returning to Chelsea last summer, he was again frozen out and continued to train in isolation.
Sterling reportedly turned down loan opportunities from clubs like Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen as he preferred a permanent move and was keen to remain near his family in London. The mutual termination allows him to join a new club as a free agent, giving him more flexibility in his next move and potentially allowing a new club to sign him for a lower financial package without a transfer fee.
Chelsea released a brief statement confirming the departure, wishing him well for the next stage of his career.
Sterling himself posted a message on social media saying, “All eyes on the future. God is great”. He is now free to negotiate with interested clubs, which are rumoured to include Napoli, Fulham, West Ham, and Crystal Palace, even after the January transfer window deadline.
A club statement said: “Raheem Sterling has today departed Chelsea Football Club by mutual agreement, bringing to an end three-and-a-half seasons as our player, having signed in the summer of 2022 when he was transferred from Manchester City.
“We thank Raheem for the contribution he made while a Chelsea player and wish him well for the next stage in his career.”
It emerged on Tuesday that talks with Sterling’s representatives had advanced to a stage where his departure looked likely ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline, before confirmation came hours before Chelsea’s Champions League meeting with Napoli.
Much of what had stood in the way of a resolution was a wish to remain in London where his family are based, ruling out any move abroad, whilst the significant amount of money still owed on his contract also created an issue.
He last played a competitive game for the Blues in May 2024 before being abruptly told three months later that he was not in the plans of Enzo Maresca, who had recently been appointed as head coach.
The Professional Footballers’ Association contacted Chelsea in September regarding the treatment of Sterling and defender Axel Disasi, who has also been isolated from the first team.
It brings to an end an unhappy chapter for a player who was considered a marquee signing when the club paid £50million to bring him in from City, where he had won four Premier League titles.
But Sterling’s time at Stamford Bridge proved a disappointment. He never achieved the same levels of performance he had enjoyed at the Etihad and at former club Liverpool, and was even booed by home supporters during a number of particularly poor showings.
The last of his 82 England appearances came at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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