[cn-social-icon]
Raheem Sterling finally breaks silence on Man City exit with message to Pep Guardiola
Raheem Sterling will consider leaving Manchester City if he is not given more game time to prove his worth.
Under Pep Guardiola, the England international has been an integral part of the club’s success, helping to win games and trophies on the pitch while also being an important member of the dressing room.
However, he has fallen out of favor at the Etihad this season, starting just nine of the last 25 Premier League and Champions League matches since the Manchester derby in early March.
Last season, he was kept out of the team by Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez, while new £100 million signing Jack Grealish has taken his preferred position on the left since joining in the summer.
Guardiola has insisted that Sterling still has a significant role to play for City, and an unfortunate injury to Ferran Torres may provide an opportunity for more minutes, but the 26-year-old needs to be playing regularly and scoring goals to be truly satisfied.
“I’m not a person that’s going to complain. I’ve not tried to make it a bigger deal than it actually is,” he told the FT Business of Sport US Summit.
“I get on with my work, do what I need to do. And I’m just raring to go — playing football matches regularly, score goals regularly.
“From being a young child, football has been the most important thing in my life, my most happiest I should say.
“When I play football that is where I get my happiness from. And of course with family as well but football for me has a special place in my heart. With everything that comes with football, money, being able to do nice things, at the end of the day if football for me is not at a certain standard I’m not really at my happiest.
“If I want my happiness at a certain level I need to be playing football. I need to be scoring goals and enjoying myself.”
Sterling has previously expressed a desire to play abroad at some point in his career, and posed for a Spanish sports newspaper with a Real Madrid shirt draped over his shoulder ahead of City’s Champions League knockout game at the Bernabeu in February 2020.
Barcelona is one of the major European clubs keeping a close eye on his current situation.
With a desire to become the best player he can be, the Blues forward would consider a move if it became clear that City could not provide him with the game time he requires to thrive.
With less than two years left on his contract, the club must also make a decision soon.
“If there was the opportunity to go somewhere else for more game time I would be open to it at this moment in time,” he said.
“As I said, football is the most important thing to me — challenges that I have set myself from a young age and dreams as well.
“As an English player all I know is the Premier League and I’ve always thought you know maybe one day I’d love to play abroad to see how I would come up against that challenge.”
[cn-social-icon]
Raheem Sterling finally breaks silence on Man City exit with message to Pep Guardiola
