There was once a time when Raheem Sterling was popular with Liverpool fans. Having joined the club as a 16-year-old from QPR for a reported £600,000 fee potentially rising to £2m, the England star burst onto the scene at Anfield. After an initial bedding in period, he made his Reds debut in a March 2012 fixture against Wigan.
Over the next three years he excelled, particularly as part of the devastating Suarez-Sturridge-Sterling frontline when Liverpool so nearly won the Premier League title in 2013/14.
He exited Liverpool in 2015 under a cloud after refusing to sign a new deal. Sterling left the club with 23 goals in 129 games in all competitions and signed for Manchester City for a £49m fee, at the time becoming the most expensive British player of all time. He has since gone onto net 131 goals in 339 appearances for City and win four Premier League titles among other honours.
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However, the England star grew frustrated last season by his lack of opportunities and starts, particularly in big games. He was benched for both legs of City's dramatic Champions League semi-final exit to Real Madrid. These opportunities were expected to diminish further with the additions of forwards Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.
And on Wednesday, he joined Chelsea for £47m as Thomas Tuchel begins to reshape his squad following the club's takeover by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital consortium. After Sterling's arrival at Stamford Bridge, he now joins a select group of players to have represented the Reds, Man City and Chelsea in the Premier League.
But who are the others?
Nicolas Anelka (Liverpool 2001-02, Man City 2002-05, Chelsea 2008-12)
Nicknamed ‘Le Sulk’ due to his attitude, Anelka was a football ‘jetsetter’. Having already won the Champions League with Real Madrid, following spells with Los Blancos and Arsenal, the Frenchman joined Liverpool on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in January 2002.
However, he failed to convince, scoring just five goals from 22 games during his brief spell at Anfield. Liverpool manager at the time Gerard Houllier opted not to offer him a permanent deal and instead inexplicably signed El Hadji Diouf.
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Anelka went on to sign permanently for Man City that summer for a then club record £13m, and endured arguably the most prolific spell of his career, scoring 45 goals in 103 games from 2002-05. He spent time at Fenerbache and Bolton before joining Chelsea for £15m in January 2008. The skillful forward spent five years at Stamford Bridge, netting 59 times in 184 games and was part of the 2009/10 double winning side under Carlo Ancelotti.
After he left Chelsea, the latter part of his career ended with spells at Shanghai Shenhua, Juventus, West Brom and Mumbai City.
Daniel Sturridge (Man City 2003-09, Chelsea 2009-13, Liverpool 2013-19)
After coming through the youth ranks at Man City, Sturridge moved on to Chelsea in search of more regular first team football aged 19, having scored six goals in 32 appearances.
He joined on a free transfer but as Sturridge was under the age of 24, a fee was decided by tribunal. The eventual figure was set at an initial £3.5m but rising to £8.3m with add-ons. Sturridge played under numerous different managers at Stamford Bridge, with his most prolific spell coming under Andre Villas-Boas where he scored 11 times in 30 appearances.
After falling out of favour at Chelsea, Sturridge joined the Reds in January 2013 in a £12m deal. The striker scored scored 67 goals in 160 appearances at Liverpool from 2012-19 but struggled with fitness after being part of the aforementioned Sturridge-Suarez-Sterling frontline in 2013/14. Sturridge scored 22 goals that year and was named in the PFA Team of the Year.
Injuries then troubled the striker and he never made more than 20 Premier League appearances in a season until his departure from Anfield in 2019, following a disappointing loan spell with West Brom.
There were signs of a revival while at Trabzonspor in 2019-20 before he received a four-month ban for breaching betting rules. Sturridge signed for Perth Glory last October but failed to make much of an impact, only appearing six times and failing to score. He played just 139 minutes of football during his time at the club and was again unfortunately ravaged with injuries. Now a free agent, Sturridge did net eight goals in 26 caps for England and is looked upon fondly at Anfield.
With Sterling making the move south to join Chelsea, he joins Anelka and Sturridge as the only three players to have represented the London club, Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League. Remarkably still only 27, the Man City attacker is an astute pick up as Thomas Tuchel looks to reshape his Chelsea side ahead of the new Premier League season.
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