Raheem Sterling's personal ambitions pave the way for his move to Chelsea

A year ago on Friday, the England defender John Stones was pushing the case for his club and international teammate Raheem Sterling to be named as the outstanding player of a gripping, exhilarating European Championship.

Their national side had just reached the final thanks to two decisive interventions from Sterling in their semi, on top of his three goals in the previous matches.

Twelve months on, Stones is preparing to bid Sterling farewell, their association at Manchester City poised to come to an end with the striker’s probable move to Chelsea, where personal terms have been agreed and the selling and buying clubs are close to agreement on a fee of between £45m and £50m.

Stones and Sterling have won four Premier League titles and numerous cups together, and though they can look forward to many more afternoons and nights as allies in the national side, the end of Sterling’s time as a City player will resonate heavily, and do so all around the Etihad campus.

His stamp on City’s successes of the last five years is deep and bold, and extends far beyond the 78 goals he contributed to the club’s quartet of league titles since 2018.

Sterling is only 27, and ambitious for the kind of individual prize Stones recommended for him as England approached the final of the last Euros, which they lost on penalties to Italy.

The Azzurri goalkeeper Gigio Donnarumma was named Player of the Tournament partly as a result of that shoot-out. Sterling’s status as a leader of the England renaissance remains intact nonetheless.

He covets a place on a Ballon d’Or podium and had begun to suspect that, without a guaranteed starting place in the City line-up for the most important matches, that target might recede. Last season, Sterling began the