Will Raheem Sterling stay under Pep Guardiola’s ranks?
Raheem Sterling’s current contract at Manchester City runs till June 2020, and he earns £180,000 per week on his current deal.
After several criticisms from fans and pundits about his underwhelming performance in England’s recent World Cup campaign, he responded in perfect fashion on the pitch by scoring City’s first goal in their opening match against Arsenal.
The 23 year old received a ball from Benjamin Mendy out wide, and skipped past a couple of players before scoring with a neatly placed shot from outside the box.
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City outplayed Arsenal at the Emirates, with Bernardo Silva’s second half goal capping off another clinical performance by Guardiola’s men.
Manchester City signed Sterling from Premier League rivals Liverpool for £44 million back in 2015.
The Jamaican-born winger didn’t live up to expectations in his first couple of seasons, but thrived under Guardiola last year.
Sterling scored 18 goals in the league for City last season. He finished the season only 3 goals behind Sergio Aguero, and was one of their best players, so its no surprise that the club are doing their best to hold on to him.
They reportedly met with Sterling’s representatives at the end of last season to discuss a contract that would keep him in Manchester till 2022.
Kevin De Bruyne recently committed his future to them in January, in a deal that could potentially earn him up to £350,000 per week.
This has led Sterling to believe that he should be paid at least £300,000 a week. He turned down an improved offer from the club after they failed to meet his demands.
In a post match interview after the win against Arsenal, Guardiola expressed his desire for the club to quickly resolve their differences with the player so that he could sign a new deal with them.
“For the record, I’m not a sports director, not even a manager. I’m a trainer,” Guardiola said.
“I try to make a good team spirit in the locker room and win games. But we are delighted with him and would like Raheem to stay. We’ll do our effort to make him feel we count on him. And we do count on him.”
Sterling had returned to the club less than a week before the match. In spite of England’s successful run to the semi finals, he endured a personally difficult World Cup, failing to score in any of the games.
With Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva not back to 100% fitness yet, Sterling took over the mantle for City, with Bernadro Silva also excelling in a new found central midfield position.
The performance on Sunday only served to enhance the general opinion that Manchester City could become the first team since Manchester United in 2009 to retain the English league title.