Raheem Sterling wants to leave Chelsea on a permanent transfer after being informed that he has no future at the club. The English striker also expressed his desire to find a new destination in the Premier League.
The 29-year-old striker's future has been in the spotlight after being left out by manager Enzo Maresca against Manchester City. The Blues lost 0-2 on the opening day of the Premier League and then Maresca said Sterling was dropped for "technical" reasons.
After an unstable 2023-2024 campaign, Sterling was also not named in the England squad for EURO 2024. The former Man City player caused controversy when he allowed his agent to make a statement expressing surprise at Chelsea's move. Maresca later confirmed that Sterling had to train away from first-team players, along with other eliminated names, including Ben Chilwell, Romelu Lukaku and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
"I spoke to Raheem Sterling before the match against Man City. I said he would have to try very hard to get the chance to play. That was the reason he was not in our squad that day," Maresca said before the match against Servette in the UEFA Conference League play-off round.
Maresca has since responded to criticism of Chelsea's transfer strategy. The Blues currently have 42 first-team players, many of whom have long-term contracts.
"I don't work with all 42 players, at this time, I work with 21 players. Today's training session has 20 players. Yesterday afternoon, there were 21 players. The remaining 15-20 players will practice separately. We have 26-27 players in the US tour.
There are 42 Chelsea players but not all of them work for me every day. So it is not as you look at and think, we train like a chaotic crowd. We have a large squad but I cannot give all the players a chance" - the Italian strategist affirmed.
Sterling wants to leave Chelsea permanently, hoping to make a move before the summer transfer window closes on August 30. Aston Villa are one of the teams interested in the English striker as The Blues want to reduce their salary fund.
Juventus are also said to be in contact with the 29-year-old. However, the Serie A representative wanted to include Federico Chiesa in the player exchange deal, but Chelsea did not accept.
