The latest transfer news focuses on Raheem Sterling to Barcelona, as the La Liga giants reportedly want to sign the Manchester City and England winger this January.
Mark this one under: wow, I guess this would make sense?
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Despite his incredible form for England at EURO 2020 over the summer, Sterling, 26, does seem to be at a crossroads in his club career.
Pep Guardiola has used him mostly off the bench early in this season and it seems like he may not fit in to City’s plans of playing four interchanging attacking midfielders in the final third.
Raheem Sterling has less than two years left on his Man City contract and the upcoming transfer windows are when they could cash in on him, if they want to.
What is the latest on Sterling?
According to a report from Oriol Domench, via Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona have been tracking Sterling for some time.
The report goes on to state that Sterling could join Barcelona in January, as the Spanish giants are also chasing Dani Olmo.
It is believed that Barcelona tried to sign both players in the summer too.
Hang on, aren’t Barcelona struggling financially?
That is the big problem with this report.
Given that La Liga have reduced Barcelona’s salary cap due to their current financial situation, spending big to bring in Sterling would be surprising, if not impossible.
But the report does suggest that by January the financial situation will have improved drastically after Barca let Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Miralem Pjanic (among many others) leave this summer.
They have brought in Memphis Depay and Luuk de Jong up top to bolster their attacking options, while Ousmane Dembele, Sergio Aguero and Ansu Fati are also battling back from injury too.
Would this be a good move for Sterling?
Any player will be a little wary of heading to Barcelona right now, but the only way is up. Seriously.
They have pretty much hit rock bottom (for Barcelona) under Ronald Koeman but they are still able to attract plenty of star players and this could be a great opportunity for Sterling to be the main man somewhere.
If he is played out wide in a direct, counter-attacking team -- like he is for England -- then this move would suit him.
Of course, he could easily remain at Man City but this feels like an opportunity for Sterling, if all the numbers add up, to take his game to a whole new level. There is also the risk that Sterling could fall further down the pecking order at City if they sign Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe next summer.
Simply put: if he does decide to leave Manchester City in the coming 6-12 months or so, there will be plenty of offers for him to join top teams across Europe.