Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini comments on Raheem Sterling’s likely price tag.
Manuel Pellegrini has suggested the reason Manchester City haven’t signed many English players in recent years is because they are overpriced in the transfer market – and used Raheem Sterling as an example.
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The Chilean manager is under considerable pressure at present after a poor series of results have seen City lose ground on leaders Chelsea – while Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United have caught up with them.
It has resulted in a congested and tight race for the top four, and Man City’s poor defence of their Premier League title has in turn brought about speculation over their coach’s future at the Etihad Stadium.
Pellegrini’s player dealings have been questioned too, with Stevan Jovetic, Jesus Navas and Fernando having particularly tricky seasons, but he attempted to justify his business to date with a comment on the English market.
“It is important to have English players but can you sign them?” pondered Pellegrini in an extensive interview with the Daily Mail.
“You are talking about trying to sign players from clubs that won’t sell them. Let’s say you want to buy [Luke] Shaw: £35m for a left back. I’m not sure about spending that much money when we have [Gael] Clichy and [Aleksandar] Kolarov.
“Can you get [Raheem] Sterling? Maybe if you go to Liverpool with £100m you can. If I want an English player in the position of [David] Silva, who is there? Maybe [Wayne] Rooney, but who else?”
Of course, Pellegrini was likely to have used Sterling as an example, but perhaps the figure is not that unrealistic. Sterling is after all the holder of the Golden Boy award for the best young player in Europe, and the world is at his feet.