London club Chelsea FC have confirmed the signing of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City on Wednesday after weeks of the pursuit of the former Liverpool striker.

Sterling is the first signing since the takeover by a consortium led by American businessman Todd Boehly from Roman Abrahamovic before the end of last season.

The forward had a year left on his Manchester City contract but has chosen to move to London with the two-time UEFA Champions League winners.

His new deal is worth £50M and runs for five years till 2027. The 27-year-old had already posted a farewell message to Manchester City and their fans on his social media on Tuesday.

The 77-cap Three Lions player also traveled to Los Angeles to team up with the squad for the pre-season, where he was also unveiled.

Sterling, who moved to Manchester City from Liverpool in 2015 for £49 million, is convinced by the plans for Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel and now wants to achieve at Stamford Bridge despite his silverware success at Etihad Stadium.

“I’ve obviously achieved a lot in my career so far, but there is still so much more to achieve, and I’m really looking forward to doing that in a Chelsea shirt under Thomas’ management. I can’t wait to get going now and continue to do my talking on the pitch,” Sterling said.

Raheem Sterling won four Premier League titles with Manchester City and scored 131 goals in 339 games.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have now moved close to signing Senegalese and Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly on a four-year deal.

Koulibaly is expected to travel to Los Angeles on Wednesday before having a medical. He joined Napoli in 2014 from Genk, making 317 appearances for the Italian top-flight side.

Chelsea are also close to resigning Nathan Ake from Manchester City. Ake and Koulibaly are expected to fill the gap left by the departure of Anthony Rudiger to Real Madrid and Andreas Christensen, who left as a free agent to Barcelona.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu