Raheem Sterling has been told that the wisest way to get his career back on track would be to sign with a mid-table club rather than an elite team.
The 31-year-old is currently a free agent after his contract with Chelsea was terminated 18 months early last week.
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Sterling, who had been the Blues’ highest-paid player since his arrival four years ago, had not played for the club since May 2024.
He was excluded from first-team training under Enzo Maresca in August as part of the so-called ‘bomb squad’ at Stamford Bridge.
Sterling joined Arsenal on loan last season but started just four of his 17 Premier League games for the Gunners and failed to score.
Fulham, Juventus And Bayer Leverkusen were among his potential suitors last summer, but the winger remained in exile at Chelsea.
Six months later, Sterling is now free to sign with any new club as a free agent outside the transfer window and restart his career.
Raheem Sterling will come to the next club at the latest
The Pitch Prospect understands the 82-time England international is in talks with clubs in England and across Europe about a possible move.
It is also understood that four-time Premier League winner Sterling is most likely to join one of the continent’s top three clubs.
However, the former Manchester City winger will not be eligible to play in the Champions League until next season at the earliest as he missed UEFA’s deadline for squad entries for the three European club competitions.
European football broadcaster Andy Brassell believes this could be a boon for Sterling if he wants to return to the top spot.
“I think there are two really big questions for Sterling,” Brassell told The Pitch Prospect.com exclusively.
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“What does he want to achieve in the short term? That’s the biggest question.”
“And the second question is how much of this brilliant player that was.” [Gareth] Southgate’s England, which was a big part of Guardiola’s Man City but perhaps not as widely recognized, how much of that player is actually left?
“We’re not quite in the Paul Pogba zone yet, but we’re definitely at a point where we can’t say for sure what Raheem Sterling is as a footballer at this point in time on this day.”
“Not what he has been his entire career.
“We know what he did throughout his career and he was brilliant, but is he still that player?”
“The fact is he hasn’t played long enough that we just don’t know… that’s what’s really driving the market for him at the moment.”
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Raheem Sterling to Union Berlin
Napoli are among several European clubs interested in Sterling, The Pitch Prospect reporter Ben Jacobs revealed last week.
It was widely reported that the former Liverpool star rejected an offer from Bayern Munich to sign him last summer.
“I think when we look at it both emotionally and status-wise, we think the bats you handled there are Raheem Sterling’s bag,” Brassell added.
“But one of the most interesting things on transfer deadline day was the statement from Union Berlin sporting director Horst Helt that Raheem Sterling had been offered to him and Union Berlin had been transferred.”
“I think he was a bit surprised at the time. He said, ‘Is this a joke? This is Raheem Sterling. We can’t afford something like that’.”
“But of course Raheem Sterling could play for anyone depending on how much money he was willing to leave on the table.”
Despite Heldt’s claim, The Pitch Prospect understands that no one from Sterling’s Union camp had offered the former Three Lions talisman.
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Sterling “is looking at some kind of rescue project”
The Bundesliga club is ninth in the table this season, 11 points outside the European places but ten points above the relegation zone.
And although Sterling’s next team will not be Union, Brassell argued that a club in a similar situation should be a project that resonates.
He added: “I would be amazed if he played for any club in the Champions League by the end of the season.”
“At this point you’re dealing with a kind of rescue project. Saving as much as possible of the brilliant player he was before.”
“But all these teams that are hoping for the Champions League or getting into the Champions League don’t have time.”
“They don’t have time to really bring him back, get him up to the level of the game and then get him into the team.”
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“I guess if you sign him now, even if he can regain most of his former powers, you won’t see it for another six to eight weeks, right?”
“This goes back to what Giovanni Manna, Napoli’s sporting director, said about a month ago. We know he is a great player, but A, money, and we still have the idea that it will cost a lot to sign him.”
“Until his agent says or says we don’t know how much he’s asking for; there’s still the perception, certainly from a distance within the game, that it’s going to cost a lot of salary.”
“So at the moment we have to assume that he hasn’t deteriorated that much compared to Chelsea.”
“Perhaps the payout will give him scope for a small pay cut, like Marcus Rashford for example.”
“The other concern, as Manna outlined, is how long it will take him to get fit.”
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“That perception that he can’t contribute straight away is why he didn’t sign with a club in January, basically because there isn’t a feeling that he can contribute straight away.”
“Now it’s different, let’s say whether you play at Union Berlin or whether you play at Fulham, for example.
“And you can say, ‘We can spend time with you, get us in the right place, and then we’ll see what else you can contribute.’ And that makes the most sense to me.
“What would be the most sensible thing to do anyway? If he were to take a huge pay cut, if he were to sign for a club that is somewhere in the middle and in no immediate danger of relegation, but which is also unlikely to make it in Europe where he can prepare himself to a point where he’s playing regular games and we can see what else he can do.”
“Realistically, I don’t think he’ll be able to do it in six months or less than six months until the end of the season.”
“Signing him until the end of the season would therefore be a pointless exercise for me.”
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“What would be the smartest thing ever, the biggest vote of confidence ever? If he were to sign in the middle for around 18 months with a club like that, whoever that might be.”
“So then you need the rest of the season to get him back to usable condition, then he’ll do everything in pre-season training and will have a great season next season.”
“To me that seems like the most sensible and logical goal.
“But to assume that a Champions League club or a Champions League hopeful club will have so much patience seems really unlikely to me.”
“Through many circumstances not entirely his own fault, many of these bridges were burned.
“So the problem he has at the moment is that an elite club doesn’t really want to take a risk because they feel it’s too far away from what he can do.”
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“And the clubs at the bottom think, ‘Well, this guy is an elite player, there’s no way we can afford him.’
“So he’s kind of stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.
“Until he comes out and says, or his agent says, this is what we want to do, this is our project, this is Raheem’s goal and this is how he’s going to get there with your help, then I don’t understand where he’s signing. That’s the problem.”