The club Raheem Sterling is most likely to join out of Crystal Palace and West Ham if he leaves Chelsea

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Raheem Sterling has become one of the late transfer sagas to watch out for over the final week of the summer window.

The Chelsea winger found himself excluded from Enzo Maresca‘s side on the weekend for their defeat against Manchester City.

Sterling has now also seen his number seven shirt handed to summer signing Pedro Neto who joined in a deal worth around £55m.

With the Blues holding such a bloated squad ahead of the remaining week fo this summer’s transfer window, it is now time for the attention to turn to outgoings.

Todd Boehly has certainly proven a divisive figure at Stamford Bridge having also now sold academy graduate Conor Gallagher to Atletico Madrid.

Another big exit could soon be sanctioned as TBR Football understands that Crystal Palace have a big advantage in the race for Sterling as we understand the player’s desire is to remain in London.

• READ MORE: Crystal Palace eye ‘unbelievable’ £25m Tottenham target to replace Marc Guehi

Crystal Palace hold big advantage in Raheem Sterling transfer pursuit

Sterling has been told by Chelsea he is not in their plans and sources have confirmed to TBR that the Blues have warned him he needs to leave as he won’t be included in their Premier League official squad.

Sterling’s representatives are talking to clubs throughout Europe, but interest from the Saudi Pro League has been discounted. Juventus have a tentative interest, but they are pursuing Nico Gonzalez so Sterling is not their first choice at this point.

However, Sterling’s desire is to remain in England and ideally London. TBR can confirm that Palace spoke to Chelsea about Sterling earlier in the summer when the idea of him being included in a possible deal for Michael Olise was floated.

Now, Palace have spoken to Chelsea about Sterling to see what sort of deal would be available with a loan deal being the most likely outcome unless Chelsea offered a huge pay to the England international who is due more than £50m on his current deal with the club.

TBR understands Palace’s hierarchy have spoken to manager Oliver Glasner, who has agreed that Sterling could fit into his system.

As well as Palace, Sterling’s people have spoken to more than half the Premier League about him and there has been interest from Aston Villa and Newcastle – West Ham are another club spoken to, who could offer him the chance to remain in London, but whilst they like him, it is believed other priorities mean an approach is unlikely.

What Enzo Maresca has said about Raheem Sterling recently

Clearly, Maresca has a huge task on his hands in cutting down this Chelsea side which has managed to grow even further over the summer.

And it seems as if Sterling is one of the players who is going to be victim of the summer sales with the Chelsea boss admitting he’s told the winger he’s not going to get much game time.

“Brutal? I don’t think so. I try to be honest. I can repeat again if it’s not clear: I spoke with Raheem before the City game. I said he is going to struggle to get minutes with us and this is the reason why he is out of the squad,” he told BBC Sport.