Izuchukwu OkosiEngland international Raheem Sterling has joined Chelsea on a five-year contract from Manchester City, the two Premier League clubs announced on Wednesday.
The deal is worth up to £50 million pounds ($59.60 million), according to British media reports.
“I’ve obviously achieved a lot in my career so far, but there is still so much more to achieve and I’m really looking forward to doing that in a Chelsea shirt,” Sterling told the club website.
“London is my home and where it all started for me, and it’s amazing I now have the opportunity to play in front of friends and family week in, week out at Stamford Bridge.”
Sterling becomes Chelsea’s first signing under the new ownership led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, who officially took over from Russian Roman Abramovich at the end of May.3
The 27-year-old played 47 games in all competitions for City last season, scoring 17 times and providing nine assists.
After starting his senior career with Liverpool, Sterling moved to City in July 2015 and established himself as a regular in the Manchester club’s frontline, netting 131 times in 339 games for Pep Guardiola’s side.
He went on to win both the league title and League Cup four times as well as one FA Cup.
However, he fell down the pecking order last season, playing only a limited role in City’s run to the league title and the Champions League semi-final, with Guardiola often preferring Phil Foden or Jack Grealish on the left side of attack.
Sterling said farewell to City in a social media post earlier on Wednesday.
“I arrived in Manchester a 20-year-old. Today, I leave as a man. Thank you for your endless support. It’s been an honour to wear the shirt of Manchester City,” he wrote.
Sterling, capped 77 times by England, will add much-needed firepower to Chelsea’s attack following their struggles in front of goal last season and the departure of Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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