Raheem Sterling has spoken interestingly about whether or not previous racist abuse at Chelsea impacted his decision to join the club this summer.

Towards the end of 2018, Sterling was racially abused by a Chelsea fan during a game between Manchester City and the London club.

Television cameras picked up the moment, and caught the guilty fan in the act, who received a lifetime stadium ban for his crimes.

Sterling said that he did not take this incident into account when making the decision to join Chelsea.

He said: “That conversation opened the door for me personally in the sense where it made me understand what my true purpose is other than football,” he said. “Of course football is my main goal and talent but the other thing that gives me the most joy, that’s helping people. So from that incident, I’ve moved away from the racial side of it and focusing on more helping and nurturing young black people.”

He was even asked about whether or not he would be willing to meet the Chelsea fan in question who racially abused him.

“I have no hatred or malice towards the individual,” the England winger said. “That’s something that I could do right here, right now, or tomorrow. That’s not an issue.

“I think my main focus is to move away from the racial kind of thing and focus more on nurturing and feeding the youth, like myself growing up. Giving them a map to what lies ahead and showing them that they can manifest a lot of stuff if they just put the time in and look after themselves.”

Sterling got off to a fine start to life in a Chelsea jersey, helping them win 1-0 at Goodison Park on Saturday evening.

Next up is a difficult game against Antonio Conte’s Spurs side on Sunday at 4.30pm.

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