Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea ‘done deal’ praised as Todd Boehly’s secret Man City talks revealed

Raheem Sterling’s Chelsea transfer is moving quickly and that is a credit to new owner Todd Boehly who has pulled out all the stops to ensure that the Man City winger will be signed potentially before pre-season starts this weekend at Cobham.

After weeks of speculation as to what the Blues’ £200million transfer window could look like, certain targets are now emerging as prime candidates in Thomas Tuchel’s much-needed attacking re-shuffle. It took for Romelu Lukaku’s impending loan move to Inter Milan for movement to be seen on this front. Sterling has been Chelsea’s prime attacking target this summer and some sources have even gone on to jump the gun in announcing the transfer as a ‘done deal’ already in collaboration with Gabriel Jesus’ move to Arsenal. However, football.london understands that those claims are a little premature with a new and improved bid for the 27-year-old expected to be lodged on Tuesday.

A compromise of around £45m is expected to be agreed upon between the two clubs and how quickly things have progressed on this front can be put down to how Boehly has acted already in the best interests of the club and Tuchel in his new interim sporting director type of role that he has taken up as a result of Marina Granovskaia stepping down. The Manchester Evening News has revealed that the part LA Dodgers owner personally contacted the Three Lions Internationals’ camp himself to get the ball rolling on a transfer which is forecasted to be completed by the end of this week, depending on how the Citizens react to the Blues’ request of also wanting Nathan Ake included in. negotiations.

If and when Sterling’s move closer to home in London is confirmed by all parties, attention could reportedly switch to other attacking targets with all of Ousmane Dembele, Raphinha and Richarlison possible options that are being considered by the interim sporting director.

With Lukaku leaving, the expectation is that a new out-and-out number 9 will be signed as his replacement but this doesn’t seem to be the case. With the Blues still having Kai Havertz and Armando Broja on their books, Tuchel is keen for versatile attackers to fill in and rotate throughout 2022/23.

Therefore, meaning that a similar Lukaku mistake will not be repeated once more with the Blues cautious of over-spending on yet another striker. Sterling’s adaptability to play many positions is a trait that Tuchel personally loves, meaning fitting into his system shouldn’t be a problem.

As well as Boehly, Tuchel has reportedly called Man City’s number 7 to let him know of his plans regarding how he wants to utilise the 27-year-old in his new fluid system. One attractive advantage Sterling has over many other wingers as well as being Premier League proven. is his impressive goal involvement percentage in comparison to other Blues forwards- past and present.

According to SBK, only Diego Costa (0.71) has a better goal involvement percentage rating since 2015 than the aforementioned Chelsea target. (0.59). Even the legendary Eden hazard fell just short of Sterling in this category as his rating for goals and assists per 90 was 0.54.

No wonder former Blues goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has labelled this potential acquisition as a world-class one for his former club. “it’s a massive signing.” The Australian told Sky Sports.

“He is a top class player, a world class player. He’s obviously someone that feels that its’ the right time to move on and I think for Chelsea, it would be a fantastic signing. He’s played incredibly well for Man City over the last couple of seasons.”