Sterling training at home after being frozen out by Chelsea

Raheem Sterling has trained away from Chelsea’s training ground since Friday after being told by Enzo Maresca that he was not part of his plans for the season.
There was a mutual agreement with the club that Sterling would spend time away from the complex in Cobham, Surrey while both parties work to resolve the situation and he has been training at his home. Chelsea want to sell Sterling, who joined from Manchester City for £50million two years ago, and the winger’s preference would also be for a permanent transfer, to a club that can offer him regular game time. In a further indication that his days at Stamford Bridge are numbered, Sterling’s No7 jersey has been given to Pedro Neto, who arrived at the club for £54million from Wolverhampton Wanderers last week.
Maresca confirmed that Sterling and Ben Chilwell were not part of his main group and they should leave the club this month. He said he wanted “different kinds of wingers” from Sterling and that his system of inverted full backs was not suited to Chilwell, the left back.
“In this moment, they are training apart, the situation with them both is quite clear,” Maresca said. “We have a big squad and if they are looking for minutes, then it is better if they leave. If they do not leave, then they have a contract here and they are Chelsea players.”
Sterling has three years remaining on his £325,000-a-week contract and Chilwell also has a deal until 2027, worth about £200,000 a week. That underlines the financial and practical challenges facing Chelsea if they hope to offload unwanted players. Clubs in Saudi Arabia are among those that would be able to afford Sterling’s wages, but he would not want to move there.
Maresca was asked if his decisions were brutal. “Brutal? I don’t think so,” he said. “I try to be honest. I can repeat again if it’s not clear: I spoke with Raheem before the City game, I said he is going to struggle to get minutes with us and this is the reason why he is out of the squad. With Chilly, I said he is a lovely guy, but he is going to struggle because of his position. He is going to struggle. If you define this as brutal, it’s up to you to decide. For me, it’s not brutal, it’s just honest. It’s not a comfortable situation. When I was a player, I had the exact same happen to me, so I know the feeling.”
Maresca claimed that his decision about Sterling was made before the club tried to sign João Félix, who has joined from Atletico Madrid. He said he looked at three left wingers during the tour to the United States last month; the others being Tyrique George and Mykhailo Mudryk.
He relayed his decision to Sterling on Friday, a conversation that is said to have come as a shock to the player, who featured in pre-season and had been talking openly about his plans to force his way back into the England set-up. Chelsea had a meeting about Sterling on Monday after the 29-year-old asked for clarity in the wake of being dropped for the 2-0 defeat at home to City.
“I’m not saying Raheem is not a good player but I prefer different kinds of wingers, this is the reason why,” he said. “I didn’t see Raheem after the game [City on Sunday]. He is training apart but in case I sit with Raheem, I will tell him exactly the same things that I already told him. I don’t have anything new to tell him because I was quite clear. I spoke with Raheem one-on-one the day before City and I explained [to] him exactly the situation.”
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Maresca said it was not his issue that the club had given many players long contracts, which may make it financially harder for them to offload. “This is not my problem,” he said. “I am here to make decisions and decide what the best is for the team. I am not here to talk about how many years a contract is. It’s not my job. If it’s a six-year contract, or a 20-year contract, I don’t care. I’m just here to make the right decisions for the team. About the contract situation, it’s not my job.”
He said the immediate priority was to slash a squad of 42 players, which has been split into a group of about 15 individuals who are not in his plans and are training separately. Among them are Romelu Lukaku, Trevoh Chalobah, Chilwell, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Lucas Bergstrom.
Chelsea are scheduled to have talks with Napoli before the weekend to try to agree a deal for Lukaku. Napoli have offered to sign the Belgium forward on an initial loan with on obligation for a permanent deal at a combined cost of about £25.5million. Lukaku has two years left on his contract worth about £325,000 a week.
The two clubs have discussed a separate deal for Victor Osimhen to move in the other direction after his preferred transfer to Paris Saint-Germain never materialised. The forward signed a contract extension in December 2023 until 2026, worth about £167,000 a week after tax, which would equate to about £295,000 a week pre-tax based on UK rates.
Armando Broja, meanwhile, has completed a medical as part of his loan move to Ipswich Town, who will have an obligation to buy the striker for around £30million if the club avoid relegation this season.
“Chelsea players, yes, 42 or 43, sure, but they are not working with me every day,” Maresca said. “I don’t see them so it’s not a mess like it looks from outside. Absolutely not. Today’s session is with 20 players, yesterday’s session was with 21, but the other 15 or 20, they are training apart. On tour in the United States, we had 26 or 27 players.”
Chelsea host Servette in the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-off on Thursday. Servette finished third in Switzerland’s top flight last season and won the domestic cup, but lost to Braga in Europa League qualifying this month.
Maresca was asked if it would be embarrassing to be knocked out. “Could be,” he said, laughing. “But we will see what happens tomorrow. We will see what happens next week. I am just, to be honest, focused on tomorrow’s game, not thinking about what happens if we don’t win and these kinds of things. Tomorrow is a game we are for sure going to try to win, hopefully we can win.”
Goalkeepers Robert Sánchez, Filip Jorgensen, Marcus BettinelliDefenders Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoît Badiashile, Renato Veiga, Reece James, Malo Gusto, Marc CucurellaMidfielders Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Kiernan Dewsbury-HallForwards Cole Palmer, Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto, Mykhailo Mudryk, Nicolas Jackson, Marc Guiu, João Felix
Goalkeeper Djordje PetrovicDefender Axel DisasiMidfielders Carney Chukwuemeka (available for loan), Cesare Casadei, Omari Kellyman (available for loan)Forward Noni Madueke
Goalkeepers Kepa Arrizabalaga, Lucas BergstromDefenders Josh Acheampong, Ben Chilwell, Trevoh ChalobahMidfielders Tino Anjorin, Alex MatosForwards David Datro Fofana, Raheem Sterling, Deivid Washington, Romelu Lukaku, Angelo Gabriel
Europa Conference League qualification play-off, first legThursday, 8pm