Manchester City reject €25m bid from Chelsea for Raheem Sterling — report

Chelsea are said to be “growing in confidence”™ over signing Raheem Sterling from Manchester City, but apparently that confidence doesn’t quite yet extend to the negotiating table, with City rejecting our opening bid of €25m (plus add-ons), according to Fabrizio Romano.

That’s probably not a surprising development considering that City were asking £50-60m not too long ago for the 27-year-old, but is a solid enough starting point for settling on an eventual fee. Reports earlier this weekend claimed that £35m might do it, so we’ve got a few more rounds to go until we reach that number. (Though other reports have also pointed out that no actual talks have been opened yet, but that may be old news.)

Romano adds that Chelsea will indeed “be back with a new bid soon” and that City are obviously open to this deal, at the right price. You would think that Sterling wanting to leave ahead of the final year of his contract would not give City too much leverage at the end of the day, but they can always invent a couple new sponsorships if finances become an issue so those normal considerations may not apply.

In any case, Sterling to Chelsea seems not unlikely at all at the moment, so we’ve got that going for us, which is ... okay I guess?