(Football news) After a disappointing season, Romelu Lukaku is set to leave Chelsea. A return to Inter Milan is looking more and more likely as things stand. Chelsea will be looking to replace the Belgian man and according to reports they have identified an unconventional replacement. Raheem Sterling who has only 1 year left on his current Manchester City contract has no plans of renewing his deal. Chelsea are interested in the Englishman who shouldn't cost too much money this summer.

Sterling isn't a direct replacement for Lukaku even though he can play as a striker. He is sort of the player who can play anywhere in the front 3 and contribute goals and assists. Chelsea already have Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount. Including Raheem Sterling in the mix would add significant fire power. Chelsea may still need to sign a proper number 9 but Sterling does tick a few boxes and the fact that he is English is a big plus point. Despite their recent Champions League success, Chelsea haven't properly challenged for the Premier League title since 2016/17.

The best chance for any player to win trophies in England is definitely with Manchester City and Sterling is presumably ready to give that up to join Chelsea. The forward is in the peak of his career and would want some consistency which he isn't likely to get with Manchester City due to immense competition and Pep Guardiola's rotation policy. At Chelsea he will be the main man which is something the player would want. Gareth Southgate in the past has selected Sterling when he hasn't got gametime which makes the Chelsea move less risky for the player. There were rumours about Sterling being offered to Real Madrid but that move was always unlikely.

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