Can £50m Man Sterling Help Chelsea Bridge the Gap?

The will-he-won’t-he saga officially ended on Wednesday as Raheem Sterling completed his £50m move to Chelsea from divisional rivals Manchester City. The English winger had one year remaining on his contract at the Etihad Stadium and Pep Guardiola clearly felt it was time to cash in on one of his prized assets, rather than risk losing him for free next summer. Oddschecker, which compares odds and provides free tips on Premier League football, still make his former club favourites to retain their English top-flight crown, but can the former Liverpool man help his new club bridge the gap? 

Doom and gloom lifting from around Stamford Bridge? 

Many fans and pundits tipped Chelsea for success last season, especially once Romelu Lukaku returned to the club for a reported £100m. But the powerful Belgian striker ended up being a massive disappointment, scoring just eight league goals and losing his place in the starting eleven, with manager Thomas Tuchel preferring Kai Havertz toward the end of the campaign. The fact that Lukaku was – to coin a phrase from football twitter – twerking for his former club Inter Milan, didn’t help matters in the slightest. 

To add to that, there was then the tumultuous end to Roman Abramovich’s 19-year reign as owner of the West London club. 

And if that wasn’t enough, the club lost two cup finals to Liverpool via penalty shootouts, succumbed to a late Real Madrid comeback in the UEFA Champions League and finished some 19-points behind eventual Premier League winners, Manchester City. 

But ever since 48-year-old American billionaire Todd Boehly purchased the club in a deal that could reportedly reach as much as £4bn, there has been a feeling that there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

Sterling finally signs

That feeling that the club is turning a corner – leaving last year’s roller-coaster ride firmly in the rear view mirror – has culminated with the signing of Sterling. 

The 27-year-old will arrive in London to much fanfare, and deservedly so. During the Jamaican-born player’s seven years in Manchester, he has racked up an incredible 131 goals and 94 assists in 337 games. He’s won 10 major honours since his big-money move from Anfield, including four Premier League crowns in five years. If he can replicate that form in the English capital, he could well make his former club rue the decision to allow him to leave.