Sterling's Chelsea Nightmare: From Euros Hero to Stamford Bridge Exile

Sterling's Chelsea Nightmare: From Euros Hero to Stamford Bridge Exile

659 games. 194 goals. A plethora of trophies, including four Premier League titles, five League Cups, and the 2014 Golden Boy.

These are the stats of a player who should be remembered as one of the Premier League's greats.

But they are not.

For Raheem Sterling, legacy remains elusive. For a player who shone so brightly, the glow has dimmed far too soon.

At the age of just 30 - 31 on December 8th - he should be basking in the twilight of his illustrious career. His best days would be behind him, that is for certain, but he should still be able to offer an attacking threat off the bench or against a lesser opposition.

Instead, he has been left in limbo. No club were able to come in and afford his huge wages, so he has been relegated to Chelsea’s ‘bomb squad.’ Joined by Axel Disasi and David Datro Fofana, the three footballers will not only train separately from the Chelsea first-team, but also use a separate changing room, bathroom, and dining halls.

For a player of his calibre, this was never meant to happen.

At Chelsea, unwanted players "bomb squad" are made to use a separate bathroom, a different changing room, and aren't allowed to eat with the first-team squad.

The remaining members of this group are Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi & David Datro Fofana.

[@LloydCanfield] pic.twitter.com/jA4fFBTlWc

— Football Xtra™ (@FootballXtra0) September 4, 2025

England’s Hero

Euro 2020. Set in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just four years ago, Sterling lit up the Euros, trailblazing down either wing. In the group stage of the tournament, England would score just two goals yet still top the group.

Sterling scored both of them.

In fact, Sterling scored England’s third goal as well. In the round of 16, Gareth Southgate’s men faced their old enemy, Germany.

In a cagey match, Sterling would draw first blood deep into the second half. England would go on to win 2-0 - helped by an 86th-minute goal by Harry Kane - meaning that in just four games, Sterling had scored 75% of England’s goals, all of them match winners.

This was the old sterling. Pacey, electric down the wings, and could outmuscle defenders as he sped past them.

Even in the next match against Ukraine, he was fantastic. In just the fourth minute, Sterling flew past Oleksandr Karavayev before successfully avoiding Mykola Shaparenko's tackle to play a line-breaking ball into Harry Maguire, who opened the scoring.

Gareth Southgate trusted him to deliver when Harry Kane looked tired, when Phil Foden faded, when Bukayo Saka was still a young teenager.

Sterling was England’s secret weapon. The third prong of a razor-sharp trident.

Now, four years on, we will not see him play until January at the earliest.

Sterling in Euro 2020 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/6LjrIgQolE

— Ger! (@GeriMjerwana) July 26, 2025

Stamford Bridge Outcast

Signing for a reported £47.5 million, Sterling left behind Manchester City, where he had played his best years of football.

🚨 Chelsea reach total agreement with Man City to sign Raheem Sterling in deal worth £50m. 27yo winger to join on 5+1yr contract. #CFC working through logistics of organising medical in London & if all goes to plan he’ll join USA tour @TheAthleticUK #MCFC https://t.co/eZjeAIS6hJ

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 9, 2022

In hindsight, it was a bad decision. But hindsight is 20/20.

Sterling did not necessarily become a worse player; more, his weaknesses protruded. At Manchester City, he would have had the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, and Bernardo Silva available to him to recycle possession.

At Chelsea, he had Connor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

There was no magic from Pep Guardiola to save him this time.

It also does not help that his first season at Chelsea was pure chaos. BlueCo had bought the club just two and a half months before the league started, and Chelsea went through four different managers - Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor and Frank Lampard - throughout the season.

They finished 12th, their lowest since 1993/94.

Sterling would remarkably finish the season as top scorer, but that was with just nine goals, his lowest individual tally since his breakout season 10 years prior.

Statistically, the 23/24 season went just as well for Sterling. But underlying numbers tell a different story. In just under 2,000 minutes of Premier League football, he would only gain three goal contributions against top ten teams.

Sterling didn’t need to wait for Enzo Maresca’s first team sheet in 2024 to know his minutes would be scarce.

A loan move to Arsenal was supposed to revive a dying career, but like watering wilted flowers after a holiday, it was too little, too late.

🚨 Arsenal sign Raheem Sterling from Chelsea. 29yo winger completes medical + exits #CFC on season-long loan. Deal sheet provided extension until 1am UK to finalise #DeadlineDay transfer. Everything done in time; England int’l an #AFC player @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/UFNL8rD2HU

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) August 31, 2024

What Now?

It is believed that Sterling does not want to move abroad. His son plays in the Arsenal academy, and he does not want to disrupt his childhood.

That leaves clubs in London as his best suitors. But whilst Fulham, Crystal Palace and West Ham all made noises of interest, nothing of note ever came about.

His wage demands are also not the be-all and end-all. It was reported that he rejected moves to Saudi Arabia, which would have offered lucrative sums of money.

So what now? Does Sterling just run down his contract for the next two years? Or will he make his move in January to another London club for less wages?

We at Football Park hope he does the latter of the two. Watching Sterling play in his prime years was full of non-stop excitement.

Deep down inside, that player is still there. He just needs the right club to let him back out.