Out-of-favour Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling reportedly turned down the chance to sign for an elite European club on transfer deadline day despite being in Enzo Maresca’s ‘bomb squad’ at Stamford Bridge.
Sterling, 30, spent the 2024/25 season on loan at Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal but struggled to nail down a regular starting spot in Mikel Arteta’s side.
The former England international has since returned to Chelsea, but head coach Maresca has made it clear that the 30-year-old is not part of his plans. Sterling is now in the third month of training away from the club’s first-team squad.
It emerged earlier in September that the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) were in talks with Chelsea over the handling of both Sterling and fellow out-of-favour player Axel Disasi.
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Sterling, who has two years remaining on his £325,000-per-week contract at Chelsea, has not played for the club since May 2024
Despite all of this and his bleak situation at the west London club, he favoured staying at Chelsea – although there was reported interest from Serie A champions Napoli, Turkish giants Galatasaray and Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
According to BBC Sport, it is understood that Sterling was keen to stay in the London area as he did not want to uproot his family, with his son currently enrolled in Arsenal’s academy.
However, the former Manchester City and Liverpool man may have been tempted to change his mind when a Champions League club attempted to sign him on transfer deadline day.
As reported by The Athletic, German champions Bayern Munich tried to sign Sterling on deadline day during discussions over the loan deal for Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson.
But sources suggest that Sterling was “reluctant to move his family to Germany, or be away from them, for what could be nine months, especially with little guarantee of featuring regularly”.
Enzo Maresca’s brutal Raheem Sterling verdict
Last week, Chelsea boss Maresca was pressed on the situation during a press conference with a journalist asking the Italian if the problem is mentally challenging for both Sterling and Disasi.
And it’s fair to say Maresca issued a far from sympathetic response.
"I've been in Raheem's and Axel's situation as a player," said Maresca.
"For sure, I know it is not the best feeling for a player. For different reasons, the situation is the situation at the moment, but I know the club is giving them the situation to work in the right way."
He added: "My father is 75 years old and for 50 years he's been a fisherman, working from two o'clock in the morning till 10 o'clock in the morning.
"This is a hard life - not the way a player works."
Topics: Raheem Sterling, Chelsea, Transfer News, Football, Premier League, Bayern Munich, Enzo Maresca
Luke Davies