Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has backed record signing Raheem Sterling to deliver against the likes of Chelsea.
City’s £49 million (Dh281m) summer signing from Liverpool is poised to make his home debut as the champions visit the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Sterling spurned a good chance to score in City’s first game of the season, Monday’s 3-0 win at West Brom, but Pellegrini has no doubt his quality will soon show.
He said: “I think that he will be a very dangerous player. Maybe we were criticised for the amount we paid for him but I am sure he will demonstrate during the year, especially against the big teams, why he was valued so much.”
Sterling excelled as Liverpool ran City close in the battle for the title in 2014. He flourished alongside the influential Luis Suarez and Pellegrini thinks City’s creative players will similarly bring the best out of the 20-year-old.
He said: “It is always important for young players to play with good players who can improve them, the same way he did with Luis Suarez or Gerrard for Liverpool. Here he will play David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure, with players that will make him improve in a lot of ways. I think last year he scored 11 in all competitions. I am sure this season he will improve.”
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Earlier, Jose Mourinho had threatened to walk out of Chelsea’s press conference as tempers frayed amidst intense questioning over his handling of doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn. Even by the outspoken Portuguese’s standards, these have been a whirlwind few days following an incident towards the end of last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Swansea.
Mourinho was infuriated to see Carneiro and Fearn run onto the field to tend to Eden Hazard, telling the media their “impulsive and naive” decision showed they did not “understand the game”.
The Chelsea boss, who was condemned for those comments, confirmed that they would not be on the bench at Manchester City, telling a packed media room at the club’s Cobham training facility that the decision did not mean they would never return.
How did Raheem Sterling perform in his Manchester City Premier League debut? We take a closer look here #SSNHQ pic.twitter.com/f8rEkf1lfg
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) August 11, 2015
He was reluctant to spend the whole press conference speaking about the issue and “I don’t answer” was the stock response he gave three times after questions over the issue were brought up.
The exchanges remained terse and Mourinho’s responses curt, before he gave a lengthy, if rambling, answer on the situation. As another question was readied, an exasperated Mourinho snapped: “Don’t make me another question or I go. I go. Think twice before you ask the question. Think twice.”
When the reporter instead directed his question at a press officer, Mourinho got up from his chair and walked to the door saying: “Now I go, have a good weekend.”
However, Mourinho was pacified before he could leave the room and returned to his seat, where the subject turned to the encounter with Manchester City.
