What Happened to Raheem Sterling? Chelsea’s £325,000-a-Week Problem | OneFootball

Raheem Sterling isn’t coming back to Chelsea. Not properly, anyway.

The £47.5 million signing from Manchester City, once seen as a marquee addition, has been quietly pushed to the fringes. He’s been left out of Chelsea’s 2025 Club World Cup squad and doesn’t appear in Enzo Maresca’s plans for next season. It’s not just a tactical choice. It’s a sign of how far Sterling’s stock has fallen.

Now 30, Sterling is still Chelsea’s highest earner on a reported £325,000 per week. But after an underwhelming loan spell at Arsenal, one goal, five assists in 29 matches. The only thing more alarming than his performances is the cost of keeping him around.

From Star Signing to Financial Burden

When Raheem Sterling signed for Chelsea in 2022, it felt like a big win. A proven Premier League champion, four-time title winner, and still only 27, he was meant to bring maturity, leadership and goals to a dressing room undergoing a reboot. But things quickly unravelled.

Raheem Sterling arrived just as the club entered one of its most unstable periods in recent memory. Within weeks, Thomas Tuchel was out the door. Graham Potter came and went. So did Bruno Saltor and Frank Lampard, all before Mauricio Pochettino took over. And even since then Enzo Maresca has come in to replace the Argentine. Each manager has had a different plan, and none of them seemed to truly know what to do with Raheem Sterling.

Meanwhile, the club was spending heavily under Todd Boehly, £600m in a year, with players arriving in bulk rather than with a clear structure. Sterling found himself shuffled across the frontline, partnered with inconsistent teammates, and made to adapt to shifting tactics. His numbers dipped, and so did his confidence.

He wasn’t necessarily the worst performer on the pitch, but for a player earning £325,000 a week, the expectations were always going to be higher. Now, with his contract running until 2027 and little sign of resurgence, Chelsea are staring down a brutal reality. They’ve got a senior player on top-tier wages who doesn’t start, doesn’t dominate, and doesn’t fit into the current requirements of what they want from their wingers.

A Shadow of His Former Self

Once renowned for blistering pace, direct dribbling and intelligent off-ball movement, Raheem Sterling’s game has dulled.

He now looks slower, decision-making hesitant, and his touches uncertain.

At Arsenal, he started just seven league games. One goal, one assist. Gary Neville called his displays “lacklustre,” and said he “no longer affects games like he used to.” He was mostly used as a squad player, despite injuries elsewhere. That in itself says plenty.

Falling Output, Faded Role

Raheem Sterling’s decline isn’t just a matter of perception; it’s starkly evident in the numbers. At Manchester City, he was a consistent force, averaging over 0.5 goal contributions per game across multiple seasons. In 2017–18 he bagged 18 goals, and in 2019–20 he reached 20 goals in the Premier League alone, while also adding significant assist tallies .

Contrast that with his Chelsea output: in the 2022–23 season he registered just six goals and three assists in 28 Premier League appearances, and in 2023–24 it improved marginally to eight goals and four assists in 31 matches, totals far below the expectations for a £325,000-a-week winger . His loan spell at Arsenal produced zero goals in 17 league games, with only two assists in all competitions, emphasising his diminished impact on the pitch.

That statistical decline mirrors the erosion of Raheem Sterling’s trademark qualities. The sudden bursts of acceleration that once saw him glide past defenders, or his clever runs between full-back and centre-back seams, have virtually disappeared. Instead, he often drifts laterally, struggling to assert himself in games and frequently breaking the flow of attacks as he hesitates before passing, dribbling, or shooting.

Underpinning this regression is a loss of confidence and sharpness. No longer prime for rapid transitions, Sterling’s hesitation on the ball is revealing. He delays decisions, his drive into the penalty box is tentative, and his final-third output has dried up.

In essence, Sterling today is a shadow of his former self. The numbers back it up, pundits confirm it, and the missing spark on the pitch tells the rest of the story. He was once a game-changer; now he’s a risk to Chelsea’s ambitions, both tactically and financially.

Why Raheem Sterling Isn’t the Same Player

1. Physical decline – Once feared for his explosive first step, Raheem Sterling has visibly slowed. A sharp drop-off became clear after surpassing 500 senior appearances. That yard of pace he once had is gone, and it shows every time he tries to isolate a full-back or break into space. Defenders who used to fear his movement now look comfortable jockeying him wide.

2. Confidence crash – The hesitation is telling. He no longer plays with the same instinct or urgency. There’s a clear tendency to overthink in attacking moments, whether to cut in, take on his man, or recycle possession. It’s a cycle of second-guessing that’s affected his final-third decision-making. Even when presented with promising chances, he rarely pulls the trigger with conviction.

3. Tactical misfit – At both Chelsea and Arsenal, Sterling struggled to adapt to high-pressing, high-transition systems. He was once at his best in Guardiola’s carefully controlled setup, with runs timed to perfection and roles well defined. But in teams that demand pressing from the front and electric tempo, like Arteta’s Arsenal or Maresca’s Chelsea, Sterling’s game looks measured, even passive. He was overlooked for more explosive, tactically flexible players, and often looked a beat too slow in transition.

4. Age and competition – At 30, every match is a battle with players who are quicker, sharper, and still developing. At Chelsea, the likes of Cole Palmer, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Pedro Neto and Jamie Gittens have all leapfrogged him in relevance. At Arsenal, he couldn’t push ahead of Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard, even during fixture congestion. It’s not just about age, it’s that his skillset no longer gives him an edge over the competition.

Raheem Sterling isn’t just in decline, he’s become stylistically outdated at clubs built around youth, pace, pressing and dynamism. The tools that once made him deadly are blunted, and the systems that used to suit him have moved on.

Chelsea’s Options Are Shrinking

With Raheem Sterling not travelling with Chelsea to the Club World Cup, Chelsea and Maresa’s intentions are clear. They want him out. But how?

1. Terminate the contract

Chelsea could buy Raheem Sterling out of his deal. It would cost around £20m in wages alone, but might be worth it to clear financial room and reduce wage hierarchy pressures.

2. Subsidised loan

Fulham and even QPR have been mentioned. But it only works if Chelsea pay a big chunk of his wages. That’s the obstacle. Raheem Sterling would probably be the best paid player in Championship history if he went to QPR.

3. Hope for a resurgence

The least likely route. Enzo Maresca has made it clear he’s building around youth and pace. Sterling offers neither in his current form.

A Club-Wide Headache

Raheem Sterling’s contract is a problem for Chelsea’s wage structure. At £325,000 per week, he’s not just the top earner at the club, he’s also the most difficult to move on. The wage discrepancy is especially stark in a squad filled with under-25s on performance-linked, incentivised deals. Chelsea have made a strategic shift under Todd Boehly and Clearlake, focusing on younger players on long contracts with lower base salaries. Sterling’s deal sticks out like a sore thumb. When you look at Chelsea’s signings this summer, Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro, Liam Delap, Estavao, Dario Essugo, Mamdou Sarr, Kendry Paez, not a single one of them is over 23.

Chelsea are also under UEFA scrutiny for breaching financial sustainability rules and were hit with a €31m fine in 2025. That has prompted a stricter approach to contracts, registration caps for new players, and an urgent need to trim costs. Every high earner now comes under the microscope, and Sterling, with declining output and no defined role, is the clearest target.

Behind the scenes, there’s unease. Academy graduates and breakout stars like Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto are outperforming their contracts, yet earning significantly less. If Chelsea want to keep them long-term, they’ll need to restructure deals, but not while Sterling’s inflated wage is setting an unrealistic ceiling. It feels unfathomable to think that Raheem Sterling earns almost 3 times the amount of Cole Palmer’s £130,000 a week deal.

Sterling was brought in as a statement signing. A signal of intent in the first post-Abramovich summer, designed to calm nerves and anchor the squad. But two years later, the project has evolved, and Sterling hasn’t, if anything he has regressed. He no longer fits the club’s tactical vision, financial structure, or squad strategy.

Now, he’s just a very expensive memory. A pretty poor memory, too.

Final Word

Sterling is not a bad player. He’s just no longer the player he was. The speed, instinct, goal threat and impact have all waned. What’s left is a smart, experienced winger on superstar wages, who can’t get in the team, or any elite team anymore.

Chelsea know he has to go. Whether that’s via a pay-off, a loan, or a compromise move elsewhere, one thing’s certain – they can’t carry his £325,000-a-week burden for much longer. But to Raheem Sterling, a contract is a contract, and he’s fully entitled to that salary.

That being said, if he wants to extend his top-level career, Sterling can’t carry that wage either. Clubs simply aren’t queuing up to take him on those terms, and the few who might aren’t offering the football he still wants to play.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. There’s been interest from other clubs, but very few can afford him. And truthfully, why would he walk away from a deal that pays him £17 million a year? Sterling has a young family, is settled in London, and may well prefer to see out his contract rather than chase an uncertain move abroad or take a drastic pay cut.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are marching on. They’re in the Club World Cup final. They’ve returned to the Champions League. And they’re building something coherent under Enzo Maresca, with a new wave of young, dynamic wingers like Estevão, Kendry Páez, João Pedro, Jamie Gittens and Geovany Quenda. Sterling isn’t just out of the team, he’s out of the project.

It’s a strange contradiction. Chelsea look to be heading upwards. Sterling’s career is trending the opposite way. From guaranteed starter to unused substitute, from one of the league’s most electric wide men to an afterthought on a bloated wage bill.

It’s a sad trajectory for a player who, despite the noise, was one of the Premier League’s most effective and underrated stars for nearly a decade. But now, at 30, with dwindling minutes and fading form, even nostalgia won’t keep him in the squad much longer.