Football
Exclusive: Chelsea Plot Saudi Escape Routes for Sterling and Disasi as Maresca Freezes Out ‘Bomb Squad’
Chelsea are looking at moving some of their unwanted players, including Raheem Sterling, to Saudi Arabia. Sterling prefers to stay in England but may need to consider other options. Chelsea's owners have connections to Saudi investors, facilitating transfers. Clubs in the Saudi league can have 10 foreign players, potentially complicating the moves. Ben Chilwell was recently sold to Strasbourg as an example of Chelsea's network in action.
Chelsea v FC Internazionale - Pre-Season Friendly by James Gill - Danehouse | Getty Images
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Chelsea are exploring ways of arranging moves to Saudi Arabia for some of their star-laden ‘Bomb Squad’, SportsBoom understands, after building a strong relationship with the Middle-East’s sporting powerbrokers.
Former Liverpool and Manchester City attacker Raheem Sterling is among a stellar group of names to be told they have no future at Stamford Bridge and will not be considered for first team duty by Blues boss Enzo Maresca. If you’re following these moves closely, you might also want to check out the latest football betting sites for the chance to back your predictions on where Sterling and other stars could end up.
But, together with France International centre-back Alex Disasi, Chelsea’s powerbrokers will attempt to identify possible opportunities for Sterling within the SPL before its transfer window closes later this month.
Clearlake Capital, which owns a majority shareholding in the reigning World Club Cup champions, is thought to count the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund among its own investors, which potentially explains the smoothness of the deals which saw N’golo Kante, Joao Felix and Kalidou Koulibaly move from west London to the Kingdom.
Sterling’s preference is to remain within England, after seeing a potential loan switch to Fulham fail to materialise before the Premier League’s own transfer window closed.
But, after publishing pictures of himself working alone at Chelsea’s training base near Cobham on social media, he now faces the prospect of not playing any football until January given Maresca’s desire to work with a slimmed down group of players.
That could make the prospect of accepting a short-term switch to Saudi a more inviting prospect, with Sterling’s contract with the Blues not set to expire until 2027.
The same goes for Disasi, who like Sterling spent last season on loan with a rival top-flight outfit. He brokered a temporary agreement with Aston Villa while Sterling joined Arsenal on a temporary basis. However, neither secured permanent moves.
SPL sides, such as Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Ettifaq, can register 10 foreign players under new guidelines, which could complicate Clearlakes’ agenda to offload Sterling and Disasi.
Two of these spots, however, must be filled by athletes born during or after 2003 in order to promote youth development.
Ideally, Sterling wants to remain close to his family in the capital. But Maresca’s hardline stance could force him to consider alternative options.
Another Blues outcast, Ben Chilwell, was sold to sister club Strasbourg earlier this month as Chelsea’s owners demonstrated how they are able to use their network of contacts within the global game to good effect.
That could also highlight how they plan to engineer the exits of Sterling and Disasi, rather than see them simply run down their deals.
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.