Raheem Sterling to Chelsea: Who are the club's highest-paid players? | OneFootball

Raheem Sterling’s move to Chelsea is nearing completion.

On Wednesday afternoon, The Telegraph broke the news that the England international has agreed terms with the west London club.

Chelsea are now hoping to finalise a fee with Manchester City in the next 24 hours or so and the transfer is expected to cost no more than £45 million – which is what Arsenal paid for Gabriel Jesus.

Thomas Tuchel’s side are also hopeful Sterling will join in time to fly to the United States of America on Saturday for their pre-season tour.

It’s a transfer that makes a lot of sense on paper. Sterling was not a guaranteed starter at City last season and in a World Cup year, he needs as many minutes as possible.

As well as the lure of increased playing time, the former Liverpool winger was no doubt persuaded to agree terms with Chelsea by the salary they have offered him.

The Telegraph claim that Sterling’s deal will see him earn slightly more than the enormous £300,000-a-week he’s currently on at City.

That will make him Chelsea’s highest-paid player in 2022/23 after Romelu Lukaku’s return to Inter Milan.

The Belgian striker was reportedly pocketing £325,000-a-week at Stamford Bridge.

Here’s how the rest of the Chelsea squad’s wages look from lowest to highest going into the 2022/23 season, per Spotrac…

Chelsea sign Sterling! (Football Terrace)

Chelsea squad’s wages for 2022/23

Ethan Ampadu | £7,500-a-week

Nathan Baxter | £30,000-a-week

Edouard Mendy | £52,000-a-week

Reece James | £58,000-a-week

Ruben Loftus-Cheek | £60,000-a-week

Mason Mount | £88,462-a-week

Ross Barkley | £96,514-a-week

Hakim Ziyech | £100,000-a-week

Marcos Alonso | £100,000-a-week

Thiago Silva | £105,000-a-week

Jorginho | £110,000-a-week

Malang Sarr | £120,000-a-week

Callum Hudson-Odoi | £120,000-a-week

Christian Pulisic | £150,000-a-week

Mateo Kovacic | £150,000-a-week

Kai Havertz | £150,000-a-week

Kepa Arrizabalaga | £155,000-a-week

Ben Chilwell | £190,000-a-week

Timo Werner | £272,000-a-week

N’Golo Kante | £290,000-a-week

Sterling will sit atop of that pile when his transfer is officially confirmed.

He will be on a salary worth more than three times that of Mount and over five times higher than the one collected each week by James.

Madness, right?

Oh and Mendy should definitely be knocking on Tuchel’s door and asking for a substantial pay rise.

The Senegalese is one of the club’s most important players, but is currently on a salary which is less than half that of Sarr and Hudson-Odoi.

In fact, Mendy is earning just short of three times less than Kepa, who is below him in the goalkeeping pecking order.

Something needs to change there…

La Liga quiz: Can you name these 30 players from the 2000s?

1 of 30

We’ll start easy…

Guti Michel Salgado