What happened to Raheem Sterling?

Four years ago, Raheem Sterling was a core part of the England team that reached the Euro 2020 final. Now, he’s in exile at Chelsea and training alone at night. So, what happened? In July 2022, Sterling joined Chelsea from Manchester City in a deal worth £50 million. He signed a five-year deal, earning £325,000…

INMR

September 26, 2025

2–3 minutes

Four years ago, Raheem Sterling was a core part of the England team that reached the Euro 2020 final. Now, he’s in exile at Chelsea and training alone at night. So, what happened?

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In July 2022, Sterling joined Chelsea from Manchester City in a deal worth £50 million. He signed a five-year deal, earning £325,000 per week according to reports.

Two years into his contract at the club, his career was turned upside down. After relocating his family from Manchester to London, Sterling found out his role as a first-team player was effectively over.

Enzo Maresca was appointed as Chelsea boss and decided Sterling was not in his plans. In fact, Maresca recently admitted that he hasn’t even seen Sterling at all this season, along with Axel Disasi.

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He said: “Since the season started, I haven’t seen either of them. They train at a different time and on a different pitch.”

“They are Chelsea players, but they are training separately and the plan is to continue in this way,” the Italian manager added.

Sterling recently posted an image on social media of him at Chelsea’s training ground at 20:21pm. The post was captioned “Training EMOJI EMOJI”.

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Sterling had the opportunity to move in the summer transfer window, but is reluctant to make his family move again. He also doesn’t want to move away from them alone.

He would prefer to stay near London as his son Thiago is in Arsenal’s youth academy. Fulham, Crystal Palace and West Ham were among the London clubs that were interested, but a deal never materialised due to his wages.

Chelsea sources claim that Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen were also interested, but Sterling’s desire to stay with his family meant a move to either European outfit was impossible.

With £30 million in wages left on his contract, it seems unlikely that Chelsea and Sterling will agree on a severance package. So for now, the Englishman is continuing to train and maintaining his level of professionalism until a solution is found.

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Written by Isabelle Newnham