Raheem
Sterling has pledged to be an outspoken leader at Chelsea, after returning
to home city London as a "grown adult".
The 27-year-old is back living in London for the first time in more than 10
years, after majorly successful stints with Liverpool and Manchester City.
Sterling said his £47.5million Chelsea switch revolved around his refusal to
accept limited playing time at Manchester City approaching the peak of his
career.
The 77-cap England forward also revealed Thomas Tuchel's praise for his
direct attacking threat, with the Chelsea boss excited to see Sterling drive
forward for the Blues with the ball at his feet.
"I'm excited, I've grown up a bit off the field," said Sterling.
"I feel like my whole journey, going up to Liverpool, Manchester, playing at
City, and living the dream - now I'm coming back to London as a grown adult.
"I've been in the football game a while now, I've got my head on my
shoulders and I know exactly what I want from my life and football.
"So it's the perfect time to come back.
"Inside the changing room and at the football club, there's a developing
side of me which I'd like to see a lot more, and that's to be more involved
in decisions in the dressing room, to be more vocal, and try to drive the
team on.
"I think he (Tuchel) said to me it's my directness, always threatening in
behind, not always wanting it in to feet and going in behind.
"But most importantly it's how I attack the box and with the full-backs that
we have here, he said that's the one thing he wants to see a lot more, so
that was the conversation there."
Sterling was born in Jamaica but raised in London, before making his name
and carving a top-level career at first Liverpool then City.
The pacy forward returns to London with four Premier League titles under his
belt, with new Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital having
viewed him as their top target at the start of the summer.
"The move came about, like anything as a person you strive to achieve, and I
just felt my time at City was getting limited on playing time for different
reasons," said Sterling.
"I couldn't afford to waste that time. So I needed to keep that same level
and a fresh challenge.
"It's something that since 17 I'd been a regular starting, so to get to a
peak time in my career, not to play regularly is something I wouldn't
accept.
"My personality is to try to fight and change the scenario, but it didn't
happen and that's it.
"This was the option that was tailor-made to my personal goals, and with my
family as well, and the direction the club is going in.
"It's a team that's competing and only going to get better. With the new
ownership as well, it made a lot of sense.
"It was tough, of course, with the time I spent at City and there's lots of
memories and top moments.
"But the year and a bit that I was in and out of the team taught me a lot
about myself, made me value a lot of things and I tried to get things in
order.
"It was a difficult decision but you have to make the decision that's best
for yourself.
"It does feel like coming home, coming back to London; it's been a long time
that I've been away, since about 14 or 15."
Chelsea banned one fan for life and five more temporarily over racist abuse
directed at Sterling at Stamford Bridge in his Manchester City days in 2019.
The new Chelsea recruit insisted that incident had not even crossed his mind
amid his decision to join the Blues, however.
When quizzed on that 2019 abuse, Sterling added: "That's the first time I've
actually even remembered it.
"It wasn't anything that played on my mind at all, I can't let abuse from
individuals affect my perception of a club."
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