STERWAY TO HEAVEN
Razor-sharp Raheem is proving he’s worth his weight in goals
RAHEEM STERLING has removed the question mark over his scoring abilities with his prolific start to the season. And he dispelled another over his future by stating he wants to remain at Manchester City long term after Arsenal tried to include him in a deal for Alexis Sanchez in the last transfer window. Sterling’s value has risen markedly and he boasts the Premier League’ s best goals-per-minutes ratio – better even than Harry Kane – with his tally of six from seven games. The England star is well on course to beat his record haul for a season of 11 and admits he has worked hard on his goalscoring because he knew it was not good enough. “It’s something I have tried to improve, scoring more goals, being more efficient and being a bit more clinical,” said Sterling. “That’s been a massive question mark over me these last few years. “As a player in my position, I need to be scoring goals more regularly. “I just need to make sure I’m getting in the box and I hope to get into double figures this year.” Sterling is in the best form of his career and it is easy to see why Arsenal wanted to include him in a deal for Sanchez. But the former Liverpool ace revealed there was never any chance of him leaving and that he wants to keep playing under Pep Guardiola for years to come. “Yeah, that’s how I see it,” he said. “I signed for five years. I’ve got two-and-ahalf years left, and I see myself here, playing my football under a great manager with a great team. “Pep is an honest guy and he would have spoken to me about it before that. So I didn’t need to worry about it. I didn’t think about it, not for one minute.” Sterling’ s goals have mattered for City and Guardiola identified his late winner at Bournemouth as the catalyst for their scintillating form. “It was so important,” said Guardiola as he sat beside Sterling at their press conference ahead of tonight’s Champions League clash with Napoli at the Etihad. “After that came Liverpool, which we were able to win, and it gave us a lot in terms of confidence.” Eight more wins and 32 goals later, and City could not be in better form heading into their showdown with the unbeaten Serie A leaders. Sterling added: “We need to keep a level head, but we’re confident in our ability to have a great season in the Champions League.”