Emmanuel Adebayor

England international Raheem Sterling is set to follow in the footsteps of Daniel Sturridge and Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City to a fellow top-six team in the Premier League over the course of the last 15 years. Apart from Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are the other top-six teams.

Sterling is on course to leave Manchester City for Chelsea with the Englishman keen on playing more minutes ahead of this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar. Chelsea are closing on the signing of Sterling with widespread reports claiming that the Blues will pay around £45m plus add-ons for the player. Sterling has been an important player for Manchester City over the course of the last few years. He was part of the City squad that won four Premier League titles in the last five seasons. The England star has been at City since they paid around £50m to secure his transfer from Merseyside giants Liverpool in 2015.

27-year-old Sterling has one year left on his current City contract and the Premier League champions have decided to sell the Englishman this summer rather than risk losing him for free next summer with the player reluctant to sign a new deal. He has 131 goals and 95 assists in 339 games as a City player.

Daniel Sturridge and Emmanuel Adebayor are two of the players who left Manchester City to join another top-six team in the last one-and-a-half decade.Englishman Sturridge started his career at Manchester City before he swapped the club for Chelsea. He went on to play for clubs such as Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool, West Brom, Trabzonspor and Perth Glory. On his part, Emmanuel Adebayor joined Manchester City from Arsenal in 2009 before leaving for Tottenham Hotspur three years later after a successful loan spell.