Manchester City attacker Raheem Sterling is keen to join Chelsea this summer and has already been asking about Thomas Tuchel and his style, according to reports.
On Sunday, reports broke claiming the west London club were closing in on a deal for the England star and could even land him for a bargain price of £35m.
Sterling only has one year left on his contract at the Etihad while his place in the City team faces new competition in the form of new signings Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.
The potential transfer appears to be at an advanced stage, with The Athletic claiming that Sterling has already been talking to people about what life is like at Stamford Bridge.
He has been keen to get a gauge on what Tuchel is like as a manager, and will have consulted his potential Chelsea team-mates in England’s recent internationals – with Reece James and Mason Mount both part of the team.
Sterling appears to be happy with the feedback he got, with the only remaining stumbling block to a deal being the size of the fee involved in it.
Man City are likely to hold out for more than £35million, but they are also conscious of the fact that Chelsea are one of very few teams who can afford Sterling’s enormous wages.
That same issue does not exist with Gabriel Jesus, who is valued at around £50m, with his more modest salary creating a queue of teams lining up to compete for his signature, with Arsenal leading the chase.
Tuchel is likely to be attracted to Sterling’s versatility, with the player capable of playing on either flank or through the middle – a tactic the Chelsea manager has regularly used during his reign.
After finding game time hard to come by in the first half of last campaign, Sterling ended up netting 13 goals and laid on five assists in 30 Premier League games – averaging a goal involvement every 118 minutes.
Sterling’s arrival is likely to hasten the exit of Romelu Lukaku, with Chelsea in discussions with Inter over a loan move which would see the Blues receive a loan fee of around £10m.
