Raheem Sterling is the latest Manchester City player to be linked with a transfer away from the Etihad this summer as reports on Sunday suggested Chelsea were confident of securing his signing. In fact, in October 2021, he publicly declared his openness to leaving City in search of games as he told the Financial Times:
Raheem Sterling said: “I’m not a person that’s going to complain. I’ve not tried to make it a bigger deal than it actually is. I get on with my work, do what I need to do. And I’m just raring to go — playing football matches regularly, score goals regularly. From being a young child, football has been the most important thing in my life, my most happiest I should say. When I play football that is where I get my happiness from. And of course with family as well but football for me has a special place in my heart. With everything that comes with football, money, being able to do nice things, at the end of the day if football for me is not at a certain standard I’m not really at my happiest. If I want my happiness at a certain level I need to be playing football. I need to be scoring goals and enjoying myself. If there was the opportunity to go somewhere else for more game time I would be open to it at this moment in time. As I said, football is the most important thing to me — challenges that I have set myself from a young age and dreams as well.”
The comments made headlines as they were seen as a message to Pep Guardiola and City that if Sterling wasn’t given the game time he wanted then they risked losing him this summer. Since then, though, Sterling put his money where his mouth was and earned his place back in the team, playing a key role in another Premier League title success. Towards the end of the season, when the topic of his future came up again, Sterling continued to suggest that playing games will be key to deciding where his future lies.
Raheem Sterling added: “At the minute I’m just happy to be playing, happy to be contributing with the team. I think that’s the most important thing. At this period, I think it would be selfish of me to speak of any contract situation and I’m just happy to be playing football and see where we are at the end of the season. As a player and forward, to be playing and scoring and making assists, contributing to the team is a massive thing. That’s where you get your confidence from and at the moment I’m happy to have a part with the team and try to contribute as much as I can. I’m playing and contributing a lot more to the team this season. And yeah, I mean a good mood, a good spirit. The football club’s in a semi-final for Champions League we’re fighting for a title. There’s not much more I can ask for. So yeah, a great spirit. It’s a team full of competition. It’s the competition that makes you thrive and once you’re performing you just want to keep playing if you’re scoring, they can assist you, win a game or whatever. You may just want to keep playing and sometimes you have to come to understand that this is a lot of players in the team.”
So if City can’t guarantee those games, it would support the talk of Sterling leaving. However, Chelsea may be disappointed as Sterling has previously spoken of a desire to play in other leagues away from the English top flight.
