Sterling shocked by Guardiola snub

Chelsea new signing Raheem Sterling pauses, having decided that his choice of word lacks the necessary meaning. The subject of conversation is his final year at Manchester City when, despite a consistent level of scoring, Sterling’s place within Pep Guardiola’s starting line-up began to disappear.

“It was a big surprise,” he says, before adding a little more spice: “It was a massive surprise . . . a change of events all of a sudden. It’s something I had to handle, and that’s why I’m here.”

On Thursday, on a sweltering summer’s afternoon, Sterling is sitting at Chelsea’s Cobham training base, almost a month after making the £50 million move from City. He has been here before, a long time ago, as a player at Queens Park Rangers’ academy with electric speed and so much potential to unlock.

Chelsea, he says, must have been among the clubs desperately attempting to get him on their books. Ten years on and, at the age of 27, he returns as an England international reaching the peak of his career under a head coach, Thomas Tuchel, who has put Sterling at the centre of his plans.

“He’s horrible to play against, horrible,” Tuchel said this summer, as he described how Sterling’s “outstanding” intensity would add a lethal tool to Chelsea’s attack. The German coach is already working on improving Sterling’s game, with a focus on “always threatening in behind, not always wanting it to feet,” and increasing Chelsea’s quality in the box.

Sterling is the face of the new era at Stamford Bridge. Drawing up a list of transfer targets at the beginning of the summer, Tuchel told Todd Boehly, the club’s new co-owner and interim sporting director, that Sterling was his No 1 choice. Initial contact, The Times understands, had been made under the previous regime, with Sterling being made aware of the club’s interest.

That he was available became clear in October when, speaking at the Financial Times’ Business of Sport Summit in New York, Sterling said that a lack of opportunities at the Etihad Stadium had left him open to a move.

“As a person, you always strive to achieve stuff,” Sterling says. “I felt my game time at City was getting limited for different reasons and I couldn’t afford to waste more time. Me and the manager and the people at the club know exactly what the reasons were.

“I tried to play my football and overcome the situation but it couldn’t be done, so I had to move on.”

Sterling was behind only Kevin De Bruyne for City appearances during the Guardiola era, and with only Sergio Agüero in front of him for goals scored. Agüero has described it as a “strange” decision from City to let Sterling, who reached double figures for goals in every season since 2013, leave.

 “Since I was 17 I’ve been a regular starter and to get to the peak time in my career [and] not be playing regularly was something I wouldn’t accept,” Sterling said. “My personality is to try to fight and change the scenario, but it didn’t come, and that was it. When I look back in the future, I never want to look back and see a rise then a decline. So my feeling was I needed to keep at the same level and a fresh challenge was needed.”

Many tempting options presented themselves. Real Madrid and Barcelona showed interest, as did Paris Saint-Germain and even Liverpool, his former club. But a return to London after ten years away for the Brent-born Sterling ended up as the top choice.

“With the few other options I had, this one was more tailor-made for my personal goals,” Sterling says. “For my family, it makes a lot of sense, and with the direction the club is going in.

 “If you look at Chelsea in the past couple of years, I think it’s four of five finals they’ve been in; it’s a team that is competing and is only going to get better. So, for me, with the new ownership and takeover, it made a lot of sense.”

A data-driven approach will be the guiding force under the Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership and insiders say that the more they explored Sterling’s numbers, the more they realised how rare this opportunity was.