Pep Guardiola has had his say after Raheem Sterling suggested he wants to leave Manchester City.
Sterling has been a prominent figure at the Etihad since signing from Liverpool, but has fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola over the past year or so.
A key figure for England at Euro 2020, who proved that he possesses the star quality to be the leading performer in attack for a side with lofty ambitions, Sterling is well within his rights to be unhappy among the substitutes.
The situation appears to be coming to a head, with Sterling having publicly revealed that he is considering his future at Man City. Quoted by the Guardian, he said, “If there was the option to go somewhere else for more game time I would be open to it.”
“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 and see how I would come up against that challenge.'”
For a player to speak so candidly about the possibility of departing his current employers, it casts serious doubt over Sterling’s long-term future at the Etihad.
As you’d expect, Guardiola was quizzed on the topic during his Friday press conference. Here’s what he had to say…
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While Pep waffles on when discussing the topic, there’s a pretty key point he makes in the clip above which suggests that Sterling may well get his wish to leave Man City.
“What I want from Raheem and everyone is they have to be satisfied to be here and delighted to be in this club. If that’s not the case they are free to take the best decision for the player and his family.”
The suggestion from Sterling at current is that the ‘best decision’ would be to move elsewhere in order to play regular football. We’ll have to wait and see if that changes ahead of the January and summer windows in 2022.
With the World Cup on the horizon, Sterling will be keen to ensure that he’s at his very best performance level. He can’t do that if he’s being starved of first-team action at Man City.