Chelsea agree personal terms with Raheem Sterling — report

Chelsea have agreed personal terms with Raheem Sterling and are “hoping to finalise a fee with Manchester City in the next 24 hours”, according to the Telegraph. Neither should be a surprising development, with Chelsea consistently linked with the England winger over the past few weeks.

The report doesn’t specify the length of contract agreed with Sterling, but he is apparently set to become our highest paid player, thanks to a “small uplift” on the £300k he had been earning at City. That will put him on par with Romelu Lukaku, though his wages for at least the next season are being paid by Inter Milan.

As far as the transfer fee goes, the expectation is still somewhere in the same £45-50m ballpark as Arsenal paid for Gabriel Jesus, or maybe slightly less. If we can finalize the deal this week, Sterling will be expected to join up for the preseason tour of the USA, which starts this weekend.