Raheem Sterling says he had to leave Liverpool to further his career

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Sterling became the most expensive English player of all time when he moved to Manchester City from Anfield in 2015.

Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling has told December’s edition of FourFourTwo magazine that he needed to leave Liverpool for the Etihad Stadium during the summer of 2015 to play alongside some of the best players in the world and develop his game.

Sterling enraged Liverpool fans by reportedly asking to be left out of the club’s pre-season tour of Asia and missing training through alleged illness before joining City for an initial £44million fee that could rise to up to £49million (as reported by BBC) in July, 2015, making him the most expensive English player ever at the time.

The big-money transfer left a sour taste in the mouth of many Liverpool supporters, with swarms of fans choosing to castigate Sterling’s objectionable behaviour in the build up to his transfer, labelling the 21-year-old as a walking representation of all that is wrong with modern-day football, whilst openly questioning whether the move was motivated by the player’s pecuniary interests.

However, Sterling has now moved to clarify his reasons for joining City, insisting that the only way he can achieve his undoubted potential is to play and train alongside the calibre of players the Sky Blues boast amongst their star-studded ranks.

Speaking to FourFourTwo, the England international said:

“It was just about the players that were here (at City).

“I could name 10 or 11 who have played at the highest level – people like Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Yaya Toure.

“For me to develop my game I’ve got to be playing with the best and that’s why I came here.”

“When I was younger, I could always see this club (City) growing and achieving great things,” he said.

“When I found out that they were interested in signing me, there were no second thoughts.

“I want to be fighting for trophies for the next 10 years, and there’s no better place to do that than here.”

Although Sterling’s first season at the Etihad Stadium was somewhat of a mixed affair under Manuel Pellegrini, the summer arrival of widely-venerated tactician Pep Guardiola has taken the 21-year-old’s game to another level, and he has enjoyed a scintillating opening few months to the 2016/17 campaign, registering five goals and four assists for the Sky Blues’ already.

Sterling’s exceptional display during Tuesday night’s famous 3-1 Champions League victory over Spanish giants Barcelona highlighted the youngster’s pronounced transformation under Guardiola’s stewardship, and performing at such a high level on such a monumental European night shows that Sterling’s controversial decision to join the Citizens back in 2015 may have been the right one.