Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea exile is over. And so is his time at Chelsea. The club have agreed a buyout of the 31-year-old’s contract, which had 18 months still left on it. This is similar to the deal we struck with Ross Barkley a few years ago.
Terms of the buyout are confidential, but according to The Telegraph, the savings for Chelsea are “significant” (i.e. Sterling agreed to leave for less than what was still owed to him over the next year and a half per the terms of his original 5-year contract that was agreed in 2022).
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Chelsea accompanied the official announcement with the briefest of statements, thanking Raheem “for the contribution he made while a Chelsea player” and wishing him “well for the next stage in his career”. That’s a bit disappointing for a player who was never anything less than a model professional and was a team leader and key player for us for a couple years (19 goals and 15 assists in 81 appearances), before being told in no uncertain terms that he was surplus to requirements and he best find a new home for himself.
As a free agent, it should be a lot easier for Sterling to find said new home before the transfer window (and thus registration windows) slam shut in a few days.
Good luck, Raheem, and thanks for everything. I’m sure we all wanted things to go a bit better. That goal against Dortmund was one of the best moments of the first two years of BlueCo.
