Chelsea are ‘confident’ that the club can agree a deal to sign Raheem Sterling from Manchester City this summer.
Thomas Tuchel is keen to sign the winger as he looks to improve Chelsea’s forward line, with the west Londoners prepared to allow Romelu Lukaku to leave and re-join Inter Milan on loan after a disappointing debut campaign at Stamford Bridge.
Sterling is viewed as a player who can add goals and creativity to the Chelsea side next season and Tuchel believes the England international is better suited to his team’s style of football.
Sky Sports are reporting that Chelsea are ‘confident’ of securing a deal for the 27-year-old, who has entered the final 12 months of his deal and has been frustrated with his recent lack of a prominent role under Pep Guardiola.
City value Sterling at around £60m, though Chelsea believe a more realistic price is around the £35m figure that will take Sadio Mane from Liverpool to Bayern Munich. Mane also has 12 months on his current deal, but is almost three years older than Sterling.
Sterling has been a huge success since signing for City from Liverpool in 2015, having won four Premier League titles among his major honours. He has scored 131 goals in 339 appearances across all competitions, but was omitted from the starting side for several major fixtures last season, including both legs of City’s semi-final exit to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Chelsea are also understood to hold an interest in signing Nathan Ake from City as the Blues look to bolster their backline following the exits of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.
