The winger seems to have lost a yard of pace but he is only 31 and leaving Stamford Bridge to make a fresh start may be the best thing for him
W
hile Raheem Sterling’s bank balance was boosted by his unhappy spell at Chelsea, the professional cost has been huge. The winger’s career has nosedived since his departure from Manchester City three and a half years ago. Sterling was hailed as a marquee signing when he joined Chelsea in the summer of 2022 but there was no place for him inside the tent by the time an agreement was finally reached to end his £325,000-a-week contract by mutual consent on Wednesday.
The decline has been sad to watch. There was excitement when Sterling became the first player to join Chelsea after the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover. He had won four Premier League titles with City and had undoubted pedigree. Thomas Tuchel wanted his threat in the final third and much was made of Sterling, who grew up near Wembley, returning to London when Chelsea signed him for £47.5m.
Yet the homecoming soon turned sour. There was the brutal dismissal of Tuchel at the start of the 2022-23 season. The ownership had overseen a wild first window. Boehly acted as interim sporting director and big contracts were handed out to ready-made talent. Soon there was a shift in transfer policy. Boehly’s influence waned and Behdad Eghbali, the co-owner of Clearlake, a US private equity firm, assumed greater control. The focus was on signing young talent on incentivised deals.
