Already a decorated player for club and country before he has entered his peak years, there should still be plenty to come from the talented winger Raheem Sterling.

Raheem Sterling currently plays for Arsenal in the Premier League on loan from Chelsea, who he joined from Manchester City for £47.5million in July 2022.

Sterling had been with City since 2015 after making a big-money transfer from Liverpool. The winger spent seven years at QPR's academy before he moved on to sign for Liverpool in 2010.

Sterling made his England senior debut in 2012 and since then he has established himself as a regular for the Three Lions under Gareth Southgate.

The forward has won four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and five EFL Cup trophies while at Man City. At the end of the 2018/19 campaign, he was named the PFA Young Player of the Year. For his performances that season he was also named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Sterling found himself frozen out at Chelsea ahead of the 2024/25 season, with new Blues boss Enzo Maresca telling him there was no prospect of first-team football at Stamford Bridge

The 29-year-old found an escape route at Arsenal, completing a season-long loan move on transfer deadline day.

Sterling has done a lot of work off the pitch to fight against racial discrimination. In 2019 he was named Sportsman of the Year at the British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards.

He was awarded an MBE for services to Racial Equality in Sport in 2021.

An early breakthrough at Liverpool

Sterling joined QPR when he was 10 and he impressed in his few years in their academy.

He subsequently attracted interest from the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City. But in February 2010 he joined Liverpool in a deal that could rise to £2million based on appearances.

Sterling made 36 senior appearances in all competitions, which included 19 starts in the Premier League. He was involved in eight league goals in a steady first season for Rodgers, as they finished seventh.

The 2013/14 season proved to be a big breakout season for Sterling. He struck up a great partnership with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge as the Reds came close to winning the Premier League.

They would dramatically fall away at the final hurdle, but this was the season Sterling announced himself to English football with nine goals and seven assists from his 33 league outings.

At the back end of the season, Sterling entered a contract dispute with the club, with him refusing to sign with his heart set on a move away. He turned down a new deal and handed in a transfer request, which eventually led to his move to Man City that summer.

Moving to Manchester City

Liverpool and Man City were going back and forth during the summer of 2015 for Sterling. City had an initial £30m bid rejected, but they eventually reached Liverpool's asking price and signed Sterling for £44m plus £5m in add-ons. This deal made Sterling the most expensive ever English player at the time.

Sterling enjoyed a steady first year for City, which was highlighted by him scoring a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Bournemouth in October 2015. City won the EFL Cup in his debut season, as he got 11 goals and 10 assists from 47 outings.

The 2019/20 campaign was not as successful for City, as Liverpool won the Premier League title comfortably. But they won the EFL Cup once again, and it was Sterling's best goal scoring season to date. He got 31 in all competitions, which was helped by him getting hat tricks against West Ham, Atalanta and Brighton.

He ended his career at Manchester City with 337 appearances, in all competitions, under his belt, plus 131 goals and 94 assists.

 

Troubles at Chelsea

Sterling joined Chesea for £47.5million on a five-year contract in July 2022 and scored his first goals for the club in August in a 2-1 win over Leicester City.

He went on to play 81 times across two seasons for Chelsea scoring 19 goals, but he has failed to constantly live up to the expectations set by his success at Manchester City.

He has also struggled to win over supporters, and was frequently the target of dissatisfaction during the team’s troubles in recent years.

He was loudly booed by home fans during a haphazard display in the 2024 FA Cup quarter-final win over Leicester, when he missed a penalty and a plethora of other chances.

New Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca arrived in the summer of 2024 and froze Sterling out of his plans.

Sterling was told on ahead of the defeat to Manchester City at the start of the 2024/25 season that he would not be part of Chelsea's first-team squad this season and should consider his options.

 

Maresca has divided his squad into two groups, one of 21 or 22 players that he intends to work with and another containing players he considers surplus – with Trevoh Chalobah also understood to be amongst the latter.

“They (Chilwell and Sterling) are in this moment training apart,” said Maresca. “The situation with both of them is quite clear.

“We have a big squad and for me it’s impossible give all of them minutes. If they are looking for minutes, probably it is better to leave.”

Chelsea, who face Swiss side Servette in the Conference League play-off round at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, have spent around £200m on acquisitions this summer, with Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix confirmed as the latest arrival on Wednesday for a fee believed to be £42m.

Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix also joined the club and became the second player signed to compete in Sterling’s position on the wing following the £54m capture of Wolves’ Pedro Neto who, in a further snub to the England international, was handed Sterling’s number seven shirt.

The 29-year-old’s representatives issued a statement shortly ahead of kick-off against City asking for “clarity” on his future, after he was heavily involved during the pre-season tour of the United States and featured in the club’s in-house media build-up to the game.

However, by then it had already been made clear to the player that his Chelsea career was effectively over.

“I’m not saying Raheem is not a good player,” said Maresca. “But I prefer a different kind of wingers.

“I just tried to be honest. I spoke with Raheem before City. I said he’s going to struggle to get minutes with us."

On transfer deadline day, Sterling completed a season-long loan move from Chelsea to Arsenal.

The Gunners and Chelsea announced Sterling’s switch almost three hours after the Premier League transfer window closed.

 

Raheem Sterling and England

Sterling was born in Kingston, Jamaica, so he was eligible to play internationally for them. But with him spending the majority of his life in England, it is understandable that he would choose to play for the Three Lions.

He represented England at every youth level from U-16s to U-21s between 2009 and 2013. The winger was capped eight times for the U-21s between 2012 and 2013, as he also scored three goals. In the middle of this, Roy Hodgson handed Sterling his senior debut in November 2012. From May 2014 onwards, Sterling became a regular starter for England's senior team.

Sterling played in all three of England's group games at the 2014 World Cup. This was a wretched tournament for The Three Lions, as they lost to Italy and Uruguay and drew to Costa Rica to be knocked out at the group stage.

He was a regular starter at both Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup under Hodgson and Southgate. But he failed to make much of an impact, as he has failed to score at a major international tournament so far.

In October 2019, England travelled to face Bulgaria in a game overshadowed by Sterling being the recipient of racial abuse from home supporters. This fuelled him on as he scored a brace as the Three Lions won 6-0. He won his 50th England cap aged just 25.

In 2021, Gareth Southgate called up Sterling to be part of England's Euro 2020 squad. In the group stages, Sterling scored both of England's goals against Croatia and the Czech Republic in 1-0 wins.

In the knockout rounds, Sterling continued his fine form, netting against Germany in a 2-0 win and assisting Harry Kane for the opener in England's 4-0 drubbing of Ukraine.

In the semi-final against Denmark, Sterling played a pivotal role in England's equaliser, forcing Danish captain, Simon Kjaer, into a challenge that resulted in an own-goal.

Sterling also won a penalty in extra-time against the Danes, which was scored on a rebound. England reached the Euro 2020 finals, but lost on penalties to Italy.

He scored his first World Cup goal in the opening 6-2 win over Iran in the group stages in Qatar.

Personal life

After the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, Sterling made a significant donation to help the families of those affected by the disaster. Throughout his career, he has been a key figure in the fight against racism in football. In doing so, the 'bad boy' image he wrongly had early into his career is no longer there.

His commitment to his family and battle against racism has led him to be one of the most respected players in the modern game.

 

Reported net worth

Sterling reportedly has a net worth of £28million and is on £300,000 a week at Chelsea.

In 2012 shortly after breaking through for Liverpool, he signed a sponsorship deal with Nike. He has been with them ever since, but in 2020 he was linked with a switch to New Balance, though that has not come to fruition.

 

In 2020 Sterling became the face of well-known shaving product, Gillette. In February this year, he featured in an advert which had the tag of 'Raheem Sterling Made of What matters'. This campaign has been used to inspire young men to follow in Sterling's footsteps and be positive versions of themselves.