Napoli and Bayern tried to sign Chelsea winger, one year after he turned down Man U | OneFootball

We will only really be able to judge how good Chelsea’s summer window was with the benefit of hindsight. But we can judge a few things objectively.

We know they had a long list of players they wanted to get rid of, and by most accounts they shed 8 of the 10 priority players on the exit ramp. Axel Disasi’s various Premier League options fell through despite lots of interest, but Raheem Sterling seemed to have no serious interest at all.

Two top teams did push for wantaway winger

Raheem Sterling in action for Arsenal. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

All summer we waited to see if a team would come in and take him, at least on loan for a year like Arsenal did 12 months ago. But in the end Sterling stayed put, and there didn’t seem to be too many serious attempts to sign him.

Sam Wallace’s piece for the Daily Telegraph (which is really a sad overview of Sterling’s situation, his career and the bomb squad phenomenon) claims there was at least two teams who bid for the winger, whose colossal £300,000 a week contract has put off other teams from pushing hard for him.

“Bayern Munich inquired on deadline day when they were in negotiations with Chelsea over Nicolas Jackson. Napoli were also interested.”

He also noted that “Manchester United were interested in the summer of last year” but “got little encouragement from the player.”

Chelsea’s Sterling bluff called by interested clubs

It’s not clear what to make of that – are we to take it that Sterling wanted to stay in London, and so turned down Man U only to take an Arsenal move which really didn’t work out for the player, Chelsea or the Gunners?

As for Napoli and Bayern – as always, the only terms they could have taken Sterling on wouldn’t have been attractive for Chelsea. Still, they would have been more attractive than having him sit in the bomb squad and get paid in full.