On deadline day, Bayern Munich made a shock attempt to sign Raheem Sterling, but Sterling did not want to go. The timing was suspicious, especially after reports that he had been training alone following his drop from Chelsea’s first team.
Sterling returned to Chelsea this summer after a loan and was expected to leave again, given the group’s reconstruction.
Teams were interested, and with Bayern coming to the table to talk about striker Nicolas Jackson, it was easy for Sterling’s name to get thrown around late in normal discussions before he decided to stay when the window closed.
How Bayern approached Raheem Sterling and why he said no
According to The Athletic, Bayern floated Sterling’s name during the Jackson negotiations and made a late push on deadline day. But Sterling wasn’t sold. He didn’t want to uproot his family to Germany for what looked like a short-term move with no guarantees of game time.
Reports claim he turned down late interest from three European clubs, including Bayern and Napoli, to stay in London. Family stability, timing and no guarantees around his role were the key factors.
From a football point of view, Bayern would have meant Champions League run and titles. But the risk of limited minutes behind established starters made the trade-off less appealing. For Sterling, the balance between career and family life (plus uncertain playing time) tipped towards staying at Chelsea.
The Jackson–Bayern deal provided the context for the approach but did not translate into a switch for Sterling
Sterling is still contracted to Chelsea so any move is complicated. His deal runs until 2027 and has a big wage commitment (his remaining contract is worth around £30 million).
Chelsea won’t just let him go for nothing , any club interested will have to take part of his salary, do a loan or find some kind of compromise.
For now he’s isolated from the first team at Chelsea. He’s training separately (with other out-of-favour players) and has even been left out of the Champions League squad.
Chelsea is keeping him off the pitch until the next transfer window.
Looking ahead, the January transfer window looks his best chance to get a new club. Journalists and insiders say by then he’ll have accepted that staying at Chelsea won’t work long term.
But it’s not guaranteed: with age (he’s 31 in December), a long time without competitive games and a big wage burden his options may be more limited than earlier in his career.