Raheem Sterling has no future at Chelsea – he is fighting for his career

After being left out of the match-day squad against Manchester City, the forward’s stock is low and his price is high

It is still there on Chelsea’s website. Last week the club published an interview with Raheem Sterling in which he “assesses his leadership role within the Chelsea squad and explains what can be decisive this season”.
What is now decisive is that he has been bombed out, he is seeking clarification over his future – although if there was any doubt the exit sign is now neon-lit – and the Chelsea circus has taken another clown-car turn.
At 29, in what should be the prime years of his career, where he should be the main star still at Chelsea despite their £1 billion-plus spending, Sterling is at a crossroads.
Dropping Sterling from the match-day squad for the first Premier League game of the season – against his former club, Manchester City, of course – with the player’s representative then having a statement published prior to kick-off is the most Chelsea of Chelsea stories under their current regime.
Why make a drama when you can make a crisis? Understandably, Sterling came in for criticism for the statement from former players-turned pundits, who are usually more sympathetic, including his former Liverpool team-mate Jamie Carragher.
Massive fan of Raheem as a player & a lad. Not a fan of the Chelsea set up with owners etc…But this statement is ridiculous! As a camp………..!We look forward to gaining clarity…….!!No need for a statement, especially an hour before kick off!!Just play better 👍 https://t.co/fjVpJ9dwDN
That did turn a little on Monday morning, however, with Rio Ferdinand arguing Sterling should not have been treated in such a “wild” way and had been misled. But this is Chelsea, after all.
Few could really argue with that. Carragher summed up the situation perfectly, especially with that kicker of “just play better” because whatever argument is mounted in Sterling’s favour he has simply not played well enough. Sterling has every right to push his case and take control of his own destiny. But this was not the way to do it even if there is zero sympathy for the cack-handed manner in which Chelsea have handled this.
Sterling’s argument is that he is now the senior player in the Chelsea dressing room. He has taken on a mentoring role with some of the young signings and Chelsea – not least in the interview published last week – have pushed that themselves. Interestingly, though, he has not captained the team.
Sterling was involved in all six of the club’s pre-season friendlies so would have concluded from that and presumably from conversations with the new head coach Enzo Maresca that he was part of the plans. After all, on the tour to the United States, Maresca called Sterling “one of our most important players”. So why have Chelsea waited until the start of the season to do this?
It is hard not to conclude that it is because they struck an opportunistic deal to sign Pedro Neto and, even more so, because they are looking to follow that up with another client of the super-agent Jorge Mendes, Joao Felix.
Maresca looks undermined and was unconvincing in his arguments after the City game that it was purely a “technical decision”. Sterling is therefore out of the picture despite having three years left on a contract, worth more than £300,000 a week, that contrasts with the more incentivised deals offered to the younger players Chelsea have subsequently pursued.
It was Thomas Tuchel who persuaded Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, just after their takeover in 2022, to sign Sterling for up to £50 million believing he would transform Chelsea’s attack. But just a month into the season, Tuchel was sacked. Maybe the owners do not feel as invested as they might be in Sterling.
Evidently he is not in Chelsea’s plans. That is their prerogative, although as with their treatment of Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah, the way in which they are handling things leaves a lot to be desired and – surely – players must now be thinking twice about moving to Stamford Bridge?
But what now for Sterling? This is not the way he envisaged his career turning, especially before his 30th birthday in December. His output – with just 19 goals in 81 games – does not warrant the status he craves but he has the talent and the ability and pedigree.
But as Carragher says – and this is a central point that cannot be denied – he has not played well enough and that is also reflected by the fact he has not been in an England squad for two years and will not be receiving a recall from the new interim head coach Lee Carsley.
Sterling turned down an eye-watering offer from Saudi Arabia last year. There has been interest from Juventus but they cannot come close to matching his salary. So, Chelsea would have to take a financial hit, while is there another Premier League club for him? It seems unlikely.
Moving to Chelsea – in football terms – now looks like a mistake. Sterling left City the year before they won the treble. While his controversial switch there from Liverpool worked out brilliantly, no-one can argue that his next transfer has.
It keeps coming back to the same question: what next? Sterling and his advisers will be asking themselves that this morning just as Chelsea will surely be trying to secure the right deal to take him off their books. They are unlikely to agree on the same solution. Sterling’s stock is low but his price is high. Who is going to take him and how much of a loss will Chelsea accept?
The bottom line is this, though: given the way Sterling has been treated and the way this is heading, it is unimaginable that he remains at Chelsea after the transfer window closes on August 31.