Sterling set to join Chelsea ahead of pre-season tour as £45m transfer ‘down to final details’

Chelsea are reportedly ‘down to the final details’ of a move for Manchester City star Raheem Sterling.

The Blues recently opened talks with the Premier League champions after it was made clear they are open to selling the England international.

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Sterling has contributed 109 goals and 77 assists for City in 337 appearances, winning four Premier League titles in seven seasons at the Etihad.

Thomas Tuchel is an admirer of the forward, who has been persuaded to move to Stamford Bridge following talks with the Chelsea boss.

And Sterling is now expected to join Chelsea in their pre-season tour of the United States, according to The Independent, after completion of a deal understood to be £45m with a potential of £10m in add-ons.

Paul Merson reckons Sterling will be a “great signing” for Tuchel and Chelsea and believes he will be a “massive miss” for Manchester City.

Merson told Sky Sports: “I think he might take time, he plays at Man City to the absolute way that Pep Guardiola wants you to play. He knows when that ball is coming into the box, he’s coming to that far post, you look at [Jack] Grealish, he hasn’t got that at the moment.

“When the ball is whipped in and Grealish is still on the touchline — Sterling does it to an art. In my opinion, he will be massively missed. It might take time at Chelsea but he will be a great signing.

“I think Sterling is a good signing, I’d worry about Man City selling Sterling, you’re selling a lot of goals, people go to me ‘he’s always at the far post tapping them in’ he’s not pushing anybody out the way to tap them goals in.

“There’s an art to what he does and he’d be a massive miss for Man City and if