Sane’s Sterling lessons

Leroy Sane arrives at Manchester City on the back of a season remarkably similar to Raheem Sterling’s final term at Liverpool. Pep Guardiola’s challenge will be to ensure the German doesn’t stall in the same way the England forward has done…

“He is a young player with outstanding ability and I’m sure the Manchester City fans will be very excited about seeing him in action.”

Those words could easily have been spoken by Pep Guardiola, following City’s capture of £37m Germany wonderkid Leroy Sane from Schalke on Tuesday. But it’s actually a quote from Manuel Pellegrini from last summer, when the Chilean was eagerly looking forward to unleashing the newly purchased Raheem Sterling in a sky blue shirt.

After a drawn out transfer saga, City splashed £49m on the then-20-year-old Sterling, investing in the seemingly huge potential of a player who had thrilled Liverpool fans with his prodigious performances in the Premier League.

What followed was a frustrating season for player, management and fans alike, as Sterling struggled to recreate the moments of magic which had made him a key figure in Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool team.

Sterling’s first Premier League season in Manchester City colours yielded just six goals and two assists from 31 appearances, with three of those strikes coming in a single game against Bournemouth.

It was the worst season of his fledgling career in terms of goals and assists per minute and Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp described his return as “a big disappointment”.

Worse was to come. Sterling’s season culminated in a disastrous Euro 2016, in which he was hooked at …

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