Every manager wants to recover each penny of the amount they shelled out on any new player especially if he is a high profile youngster who used to be on the radar of several sides. Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling is one such player who recently made a switch to Manchester from Anfield at some £49 million fee and manager Manuel Pellegrini, who has ever been the fan of Englishman, wants him to justify each of the Dollars City spent over him. The first major challenge for the 20-year-old Jamaican born is upcoming showdown between Man City and Chelsea where he is expected to show his full strength after persisting criticism in the media for his infamous switch out of Anfield. Fact wise, Sterling is the most expensive English player in the history hence performance pressure would of course be over him and everyone expects him to prove he is a true professional who does not let pressure overtake his concentration. If we look at his performance playing for the Brendan Rodgers side, he scored 23 goals out of his 129 appearances which is not bad but not good as well for a player of his caliber.
Talking about their latest entrant and what they expect him to do in season’s first major showdown, Chilean mentor said, “I am sure he will score more goals than he did before. I think last year he scored 11 in all competitions. I am sure this season he will improve. I think that he will be a very dangerous player. Maybe we were criticised for the amount we played for him but I am sure he will demonstrate during the year, especially against the big teams, why he was valued so much.”
Further adding the importance of quality colleagues in any side, 61-year-old said, “It is always important for young players to play with good players. You can improve, the same way he did with Luis Suarez or Gerrard for Liverpool, here he will play with David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure — players that will make him improve in a lot of ways. Young players always learn from important players. It is very important for them to play with him.”
Nonetheless, no matter what others say about him, it is now up to Sterling how he plans his gameplay for first major challenge playing for Manchester giants and fans would like him to deliver as he had been playing alongside players like Suarez at Anfield.