Chelsea are set to make Raheem Sterling their headline summer signing and are prepared to pay £60million to land the England international.
The 27-year-old will be a free agent this time next year and talks over a new deal at Manchester City have stalled.
Pep Guardiola would prefer to keep a player who has been central to the club’s dominance of the Premier League in recent seasons, but City are unwilling to lose one of their prize assets on a free transfer next summer.
Sterling has previously stated his desire to play abroad and although Real Madrid and Barcelona have coveted him in the past, neither is in a position to meet City’s valuation.
Chelsea’s new owners, however, are ready to back Thomas Tuchel with a £200m warchest and make significant additions to a squad which failed to keep pace with City and Liverpool last season.
Sterling would be considered a statement signing and the player, according The Sun, is keen on a return to his London roots but will seek assurances from Thomas Tuchel over the role his likely to play in his plans.
The former Liverpool winger started 32 Premier League games for City last season, but his influenced waned during the closing stages of the campaign.
Sterling was left on the bench for both legs of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid and omitted from the starting line-up for the decisive match of the campaign against Aston Villa, before he made a telling contribution as a second-half replacement.
Tuchel already has an abundance of attacking options in his squad, but with doubts over the futures of Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic, he is likely to be able to offer Sterling the guarantee of first team football he craves.
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