Chelsea has finally agreed terms with Manchester City for Raheem Sterling ahead of his move to Stamford Bridge. Suffice it to say, many supporters are excited about the transfer. There have been debates about Sterling and his suitability with what the Blues trying to do, but before diving into that, it’s time to learn about Raheem Sterling the person. Further, what will Chelsea be getting in the 27 year-old Jamaican-born Englishman and how does he affect its attacking fortunes?
1. History
Sterling was born in Jamaica in December 1994. He started his youth career at Alpha and Omega FC, where he spent four years. He then went on to spend seven years at Queens Park Rangers before moving to Liverpool‘s academy in 2010. He went on to spend two years there before graduating to the Reds’ senior team in 2012.
Sterling has always been prolific with his most memorable season at Anfield being the 2013/14 campaign, where he tallied 23 goal contributions in 39 appearances—16 of them coming in the Premier League. The Reds challenged convincingly for the league title that season thanks to heroics from Sterling and Luis Suarez. They lost the title in the final stages of the season as they fumbled their last three games though. The versatile winger also hit 21 goals and assists the following season, with 15 of them coming in the English top flight.
It goes without saying that Sterling has clearly always been prolific, especially for a winger.
Sterling joined Man City in July 2015, a season before Pep Guardiola arrived at the Etihad. He has enjoyed some serious success on the sky blue half of Manchester. In the Premier League alone, he has been nothing less than highly productive. In eight seasons with the Citizens, Sterling reached the 20 goal-plus-assist mark three times and crossed the 15 goal-plus-assist threshold five times. He now wraps up his career with Man City with a total of 131 goals and 95 assists.
Furthermore, Sterling won 10 major trophies with the Citizens, including four Premier League titles and four League Cups. There is seldom a player more familiar to Chelsea fans that gets previewed in these pieces than Sterling. The Blues are getting a player with a plethora of Premier League experience in the Englishman.