{"id":443540,"date":"2026-01-28T19:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443540\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T19:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:17:13","slug":"raheem-sterling-leaves-chelsea-as-free-agent-with-18-months-left-on-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443540\/","title":{"rendered":"Raheem Sterling leaves Chelsea as free agent with 18 months left on deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea have confirmed that Raheem Sterling has left the club by mutual consent. <\/p>\n

The Times reported on Tuesday that Sterling and his representatives were discussing the terms of his exit, and an agreement has now been reached for Sterling to depart on a free transfer.<\/p>\n

Sterling had 18 months remaining on a five-year contract worth more than \u00a3300,000 a week. Posting on Instagram, the 31-year-old said: \u201cAll eyes on the future, God is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that Sterling is available to sign for a new club permanently, it is understood that he is open to a move abroad, with stability a priority for him.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea<\/p>\n

Sterling\u2019s last competitive appearance for Chelsea came in May 2024<\/p>\n

HARRIET LANDER\/CHELSEA FC VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The terms of the mutual termination have not been disclosed but sources close to Chelsea regard the agreement as achieving significant cost savings.<\/p>\n

A club statement read: \u201cWe thank Raheem for the contribution he made while a Chelsea player and wish him well for the next stage in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling had not played for Chelsea since a Premier League fixture against Bournemouth in May 2024. He spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Arsenal, where he made 17 Premier League appearances, and has since been training separately from the rest of Chelsea\u2019s first-team group.<\/p>\n

Sterling joined Chelsea from Manchester City in 2022 for a fee worth \u00a347.5million. He was the first signing made by Chelsea\u2019s present ownership, the BlueCo consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly, in 2022. He was thought to be the club\u2019s highest earner, given he was signed before it pivoted to an incentive-oriented wage structure, with lower base salaries.<\/p>\n

\"Leicester<\/p>\n

Sterling spent last season on loan at Arsenal<\/p>\n

DAVID PRICE\/ARSENAL FC VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Last summer Sterling was unable to secure a move away from Chelsea, and after the closure of the transfer window he began training separately from the rest of Enzo Maresca\u2019s first-team group, alongside Axel Disasi. Disasi has since returned to first-team training with the rest of the Chelsea squad this month, and had made appearances for the under-21s.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Liam Rosenior has emphatically ruled out the prospect of Cole Palmer leaving the club, insisting that the 23-year-old is untouchable.<\/p>\n

Palmer has been linked with Manchester United this month, with reports suggesting he is homesick at Stamford Bridge. The England international has endured an injury-hit season, mainly due to a groin issue.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea<\/p>\n

Rosenior\u2019s team face Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday<\/p>\n

CHRIS LEE\/CHELSEA FC VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Asked whether Palmer was untouchable and happy, Rosenior was unequivocal. \u201cYes and yes. It\u2019s simple, Cole\u2019s an incredible player,\u201d the Chelsea head coach said. \u201cLike the guy sitting next to me, [Mois\u00e9s Caicedo], I\u2019ve seen many players in the group [who are incredible]. I\u2019m not surprised at the timing. A new manager comes in and all of a sudden there\u2019s people unsettled. It\u2019s not true. Cole\u2019s here, he\u2019s very happy and I can\u2019t wait to see him back on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palmer travelled to Naples with the Chelsea squad after missing the club\u2019s previous two games, against Crystal Palace and Pafos, with a thigh issue.<\/p>\n

Rosenior dismissed the idea that he required assurances over Palmer\u2019s squad status from Chelsea\u2019s hierarchy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no reason for assurance,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s so unrealistic. It\u2019s come from nowhere. There\u2019s nothing in it. There\u2019s no reason to have the conversation. That\u2019s where I\u2019m at. Cole is very happy. I\u2019ve had numerous conversations with him. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are on how we can make this team better, how he can improve and how I can help him. He loves being here and he wants to be a Chelsea player. You can\u2019t stop speculation, but some speculation is so far from the truth. There\u2019s no point in having a discussion about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea's<\/p>\n

Rosenior dismissed the idea that Palmer wanted to leave Chelsea<\/p>\n

BRADLEY COLLYER\/PA<\/p>\n

A win against Napoli on Wednesday night may not be enough for Chelsea to secure a top-eight finish in the league phase of the Champions League, because of goal difference, but success would mean avoiding the play-off round and two further matches next month.<\/p>\n

Napoli, who have won only one of their past six games and have suffered with injuries, sit 25th and will miss out on qualification to the next round altogether without a positive result.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very strong team,\u201d Rosenior said. \u201cI think it would have been unfortunate in the recent games that they played. The results haven\u2019t followed the performances that Antonio Conte\u2019s team have given. We know it\u2019s going to be a very difficult game in a very special atmosphere. It doesn\u2019t change my plans at all because I\u2019ve been planning for a very difficult game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea have confirmed that Raheem Sterling has left the club by mutual consent. The Times reported on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-443540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}