Chelsea have offered Raheem Sterling to Aston Villa as part of their ongoing squad overhaul, following the arrival of new head coach Enzo Maresca, who has made it clear that the England winger is not in his plans at Stamford Bridge.
The £47.5m signing from Manchester City is among 15 players the Blues are looking to offload.
Sterling has been relegated to training away from the first team as Chelsea prepare for the upcoming season.
Despite interest from Saudi Arabia, Sterling remains committed to staying in the Premier League.
He has been offered to Aston Villa, with Unai Emery’s side able to offer Champions League football, a crucial factor for the winger as he aims to regain his place in the England squad.
Juventus also expressed interest in a swap deal involving Federico Chiesa, but Chelsea are not keen on the proposal.
Sterling has sought “clarity” from the club regarding his future after being omitted from Chelsea’s squad for their Premier League opener against Manchester City.
The statement read: “Raheem Sterling is contracted to Chelsea Football Club for the next three years.
“He returned to England two weeks early to conduct individual training, and has had a positive pre-season under the new coach, who he has developed a good working relationship with.
“He is committed, as ever, to delivering at the highest level for Chelsea FC and the fans, who he holds in high regard, and given his inclusion in official club pre-match material this week, our expectation was that Raheem would be involved in this weekend’s fixture in some capacity.
“As a camp, we have always had positive dialogue with, and assurance from, Chelsea FC in relation to Raheem’s future at the club, so we look forward to gaining clarity on the situation.
“Until then, we will continue to support Raheem’s desire to start the new season positively.”
The former Liverpool and City winger is Chelsea’s highest earner, collecting £300,000 a week, while the club’s new wage structure on longer, incentive-driven contracts has seen the average weekly pay drop to £60,000.
With Chelsea needing to balance the books, player sales are becoming increasingly important.
On the same day Chelsea finalised the £45.5m signing of João Félix, Maresca explained that Sterling’s potential departure is based on footballing decisions rather than financial pressures.
“I’m not saying Raheem is not a good player but I prefer different kinds of wingers,” he said.
“This is the reason why.
“I spoke with Raheem, one-on-one the day before City and I explained him exactly the situation.
“I didn’t see Raheem after the game. “In this moment, they (Sterling and Ben Chilwell) are training apart.
“The situation with them both is quite clear.
“There is not any update on their situations.
“In case I sit with Raheem, I will tell him exactly the same things that I already told him.
“I don’t have anything new to tell him because I was quite clear.”
Chelsea are now racing against time to offload players before the August 31 transfer deadline, or face the prospect of continuing to pay and play players who are no longer in their plans.
“We’ll see,” added the Italian.
“Now it is a bit early.
“We still have 10 days of the transfer window.
“As I said many times, many things can happen in the last 10 days, the last week, so we’ll see.”
Read more: Raheem Sterling has ‘no future’ at Chelsea
