Friday 17 July 2015 12:30, UK
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that new signing Raheem Sterling will not play in Saturday’s match against sister club Melbourne City.
Sterling, who became the most expensive English footballer ever on Tuesday after joining City from Liverpool for £49m, arrived in Australia on Thursday.
The England winger trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Friday, but Pellegrini said it was too early for him to feature in Saturday’s game against A-League side Melbourne City on the Gold Coast.
Sterling could, however, play in City’s remaining friendly matches on their pre-season tour in the International Champions Cup against Roma and Real Madrid in Melbourne.
Pellegrini said: “It’s too early for him. He has just arrived last night so he must work the same as all international players that are just starting working this week. So maybe in the next week he will be able to be in the team.”
Pellegrini is ready use Sterling in various roles in the side and he expects the 20-year-old to become an important member of his first team even though he believes there is still room for improvement.
He said: “I think that Raheem can play in different positions. He can play as a centre-forward because he has the speed and he can play also as a winger. I think that he is a very young player so he has a lot of things to improve.
“I think it’s important for him to have a new challenge in our team where he will play with great players and he will also improve his game and he will improve us as a team.
“I think that he has already demonstrated at Liverpool what he can do as a player.
“He’s a very young player, he’s just 20-years-old. He has a lot of things to improve. It depends on the way he works in the next year, but I am sure that he will be very important in our team, especially for his speed.”
Watch Melbourne City v Manchester City live from 7.55am on Saturday on Sky Sports 1 HD.
