‘Raheem Sterling set for pay off to leave Chelsea after Arsenal nightmare’
Chelsea are expected to pay Raheem Sterling out of his contract in order for him to leave the club this summer after he failed to impress in a recent loan spell at Arsenal.
Sterling joined Chelsea as one of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s first marquee signings back in 2022, in a £47.5million [Sky Sports] deal from Manchester City.
His time at Stamford Bridge has largely been one of struggle and woe since, and he was sent out on loan to Arsenal last summer after Enzo Maresca admitted that Sterling would struggle to get game-time under his management.
The 82-cap England international made just seven league starts for the Gunners as they finished second in the Premier League, and with no future at Stamford Bridge, finance expert Stefan Borson recently told Football Insider that Chelsea will likely have to let Sterling leave for free and pay at least half of his £325,000-a-week wages to move him on this summer.
Troy Deeney predicts Chelsea to ‘pay-off’ Sterling this summer
Borson also told Football Insider on Thursday, 3 July, that Sterling is one of three big-name players that the Blues are looking to sell this summer after the 30-year-old was left out of Maresca’s Club World Cup squad.
Former player and current pundit Troy Deeney is unsure if any club will look to buy Sterling ahead of the new season, though, and he backed Chelsea to pay him out of his contract soon to simply get him off the books when speaking live on talkSPORT on Friday (4 July), saying: “For Chelsea…I think the hard part will be getting value for money for anyone that they do get rid of.
“Talk about Raheem Sterling, that’s probably going to end up being a pay-off, isn’t it? Of some description, even if it’s half the wages to get him to go somewhere else.
“He didn’t do well last year, did he, (for) everyone to be banging down the door for him.”
Chelsea are right to look to sell Sterling after his struggles since leaving Manchester City
Football Insider verdict
Once upon a time, Blues outcast Sterling was one of the best wingers in the Premier League and throughout world football, but he has been unable to find his best form since departing Man City for Stamford Bridge in 2022.
His signature cost Chelsea a hefty £47.5m nearly three years ago, and they have seen diminishing returns on that investment after he failed to net double figures for league goals in his first two seasons in West London.
| Appearances | Starts | Goals | Assists |
| 81 | 62 | 19 | 15 |
The writing was on the wall last summer as he was forced out by Maresca, but his spell with the title-chasing Gunners never really got off the ground, with just one goal and five assists in 29 games in all competitions as he largely remained on the bench under Mikel Arteta.
It is clear that he has no future at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea now closing in on signing Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens, so the main stumbling block will likely be finding a club that is happy to take him on at 30-years-old and with seemingly little left in the tank, but plenty on his contract.