Raheem Sterling claims it was no longer possible to be a regular starter at Manchester City so he decided that a move away from the Etihad was best for his career.

In what appears to be a veiled dig at manager Pep Guardiola, Sterling felt his efforts both in games and on the training pitch weren’t being rewarded:

“It was a shame to see how it ended in the end because I had such a great time there. A lot of things came into play, a lot of reasons, but I wasn’t complaining, I was ready to challenge and, as you can see, even with some of the performances I put in, you couldn’t guarantee yourself a place so it just didn’t make sense to fight a battle you can never win. As a player, you always want to do your best and help your team, but when you don’t think things are going fairly, it’s always a disappointment.”

Sterling was rotated in and out of the starting lineup by Guardiola last season, but he still started 32 matches in all competitions so it is somewhat unfair to criticise the Spaniard for his treatment of the player.

Considering the amount of options Guardiola has at his disposal in attack, it is surprising that Sterling expected to start in every game. It seems it was the right decision for the club to part ways with the England international when they did.

City will feel they did well to get £47.5m from Chelsea for Sterling due to the fact that he had less than a year remaining on his contract at the Premier League champions.