Chelsea are on the verge of completing the signing of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City. The 27-year-old has agreed personal terms with the Blues and is expected to complete the move to London in the very near future.
The clubs are still working on the minor details of the fee, although on Friday, £45million (plus £10m in add-ons) was verbally agreed on, football.london understands. Sterling is expected to be announced as a Chelsea player before the squad jet off to the United States this weekend to begin their pre-season tour.
Plenty has been said about Sterling moving to Chelsea, with many people thinking Man City are letting him leave for too cheap – despite just 12 months remaining on his contract – but others don't seem too sold on the prospect. His numbers at the Etihad Stadium over the past seven years, though, speak for themselves.
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Sterling has 131 goals and 95 assists (226 direct goal contributions) in 339 appearances spread across all competitions for City. Signed by Manuel Pellegrini in the summer of 2015 from Liverpool, there were big expectations placed on Sterling's shoulders.
However, it wasn't until Pep Guardiola took over the following summer that Sterling really kicked on in Manchester. Guardiola developed a really strong working relationship with Sterling and the England international's development under the City manager was clear for everyone to see.
"He has been an incredibly important player in all these seasons, with all the goals and assists," Guardiola said on Sterling last season. "When he has confidence, he is a really, really important player."
It's no wonder Guardiola said that when the following statistic is taken into consideration. Under Guardiola in top-flight teams, only Lionel Messi (291) has more combined goals and assists than Sterling (186). Kevin De Bruyne (175), Sergio Aguero (151) and Gabriel Jesus (136) complete the top five – stats via Opta.
With stats like that to his name, it's no wonder Sterling is set to become Chelsea's highest-paid player. The England winger is expected to earn around £300,000-a-week at Stamford Bridge once the move does become official.
Sterling's stats over the past five seasons for Man City in comparison to the Chelsea attackers also make for very interesting reading. Last season, Romelu Lukaku (in all competitions) was the Blues' top scorer with 15 goals, while Sterling netted 17 times.
In 2020/21, Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner both scored 12 times to be Chelsea's joint-top goal scorers, while Sterling notched 14 for City. 2019/20 saw Abraham score 18, with Sterling scoring 31 for the Citizens. Eden Hazard was Chelsea's top scorer in 2018/19 and 2017/18 with 21 and 17 goals, respectively, with Sterling out-scoring the Belgian each time with 25 and 23 strikes, respectively, to his name.
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