Manchester City could be selling Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal and Raheem Sterling to Chelsea this summer, strengthening two Premier League rivals while weakening their own squad.
Arsenal finished fifth in the league this season while Chelsea finished third, but the London duo will be stronger for signing Jesus and Sterling, so it’s a risky game selling to a divisional rival.
Jesus’s move to Arsenal is all but confirmed while Sterling’s move is still in the works, but Kevin Campbell says the 27-year-old joining Chelsea will have a snowball effect due to the money in football being so vast.
He told Football Insider: “All this talk about selling to rivals – forget about all that. It’s all going to start happening now. The money in the game is so vast now that beggars can’t be choosers.
“Clubs cannot refuse to sell to rivals if there is a good financial deal on the table. You’re going to need to bring transfer fees in and get people off the wage bill in order to bring other players in.”
Pep Guardiola would like to keep Sterling, but Man City are forced to sell him this summer if he’s not committing his future beyond 2023 – the Premier League champions can’t afford to lose the England international on a free transfer next year.
In an ideal world, City would offload a valuable asset to a club abroad so they didn’t affect their title hunt. But the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid don’t have the resources to sign Sterling and will instead wait for Sterling to run his contract down.
In other news, here are three key reasons why Gabriel Jesus is leaving Man City to join Arsenal