Chelsea could potentially look to sell Raheem Sterling this summer after a tough first season at the club, according to transfer expert Dean Jones.

How has Sterling performed this season?

The 28-year-old departed Manchester City during last summer's transfer window in a £47.5m move, moving on to enjoy a fresh challenge and joining the Blues. He looked like an exciting addition, given the impact he has had for England and City down the years, penning a whopping £325,000-a-week contract.

It's fair to say that Sterling's first season as a Chelsea player has been an extremely disappointing one, however, with the forward struggling to have a positive impact in the final third. The Englishman has scored just four times in 22 Premier League appearances in 2022/23 to date, as well as registering only two assists in the competition.

It has been nowhere near good enough from Sterling, although he certainly hasn't been alone in struggling, with the likes of fellow Englishman Mason Mount also falling out of favour and form. Sterling has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge recently, and now a new claim suggests he could really be on the way out just 12 months after joining.

Is Sterling going to leave Chelsea?

While Mount is the subject of heavy speculation involving rival Premier League clubs, with Liverpool making the Englishman a "priority target" according to Fabrizio Romano, there's a bit less clarity over Sterling's next move. Speaking to Football FanCast, Jones confirms that the winger could move on to pastures new this summer, admitting the player is simply in a bad place with the Blues:

"Fans cheered when he was taken off last weekend. And that says it all really. Sterling is just not in a good place. There's obviously been some speculation around his future… I think that speculation might drag on a bit."

For such reports to be emerging so soon after Sterling joined Chelsea is not something many people would have predicted last summer, considering what a big-name arrival he was. This is someone who scored 131 goals in 339 appearances for City, not to mention netting 20 times in 82 caps for England.

It does look as though the former Liverpool youngster may have potentially peaked as a player, though, with his 29th birthday due this year and many years of football in his legs, having burst into the scene as a teenager at Anfield. Players such as Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen also hit their prime before 30 for the same reason.

The hope is that this is just a blip and that Sterling will go up a gear when the whole Chelsea team improves, but this has now been a prolonged spell of ineffective form. Should he wish to leave, the Blues may not try overly hard to stop him, but the preferable outcome is surely for him to stay put and eventually prove his worth.