I came here an immature boy but I’ve learnt to be the MAN
STERLING ON HIS JOURNEY TO BECOMING A CITY HERO
HE WAS little more than a boy when he joined Manchester City, but now Raheem Sterling is the man.
Four years after his acrimonious move from Liverpool, Sterling feels he is coming of age at City.
Sterling was 20 in the summer of 2015 and great things were expected when his £49million transfer fee made him the most expensive English player at that time.
That fee now looks a bargain. After a slow start to his City career, Sterling scored 31 goals for club and country last season.
The 24-year-old is on course to beat that tally after a hat-trick against Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday – his fourth treble of 2019 – took his haul for City and the Three Lions to 16 goals in 17 games.
Sterling is still maturing under Pep Guardiola and accepts his manager’s challenge to push himself to keep improving.
“One thing is age,” he said. “I was 19 or 20 when I came to City and I was nowhere near the maturity level I am now.
“Another is being in a good team, and then the final thing is down to yourself. It’s what you want to do in football.
“Do you want to be a winger who takes 10 people on and delivers nothing or do you want to be someone who helps win games for your team?
“All that comes with maturity. I keep learning each day to be better at it and to be involved in the game and be effective.”
Sterling was devastating against Atalanta and had a hand in City’s other two goals at the Etihad, crossing for Sergio Aguero’s opener and winning the penalty for the Argentinian’s second.
Sterling is taking on more responsibility to make and take goals for City and England, having become hugely important for both teams. In a sign of his growing maturity the forward refused to bask in the glory of collecting yet another match ball to add to his mum’s burgeoning collection at her home in Jamaica.
Instead, Sterling is focused on wreaking more havoc on Aston Villa on Saturday.
“I’m thriving on just waiting for the next game, really,” he said. “I’ve scored a hat-trick and I can’t wait for the weekend to hopefully get some chances and be involved again to score some goals.
“I think that’s where I am at the moment. This has gone now and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
Sterling was not entirely happy with his performance on Tuesday night and said he should have had a fourth goal when he missed a chance after being sent clean through near the end.
“I should have had four,” he said. “Riyad [Mahrez] set me up for the last one, and as soon as I went through on goal I was looking for him to see if he was anywhere close.
“I wanted to put one on a plate for him but, yeah, I’ve got to finish that.”