Where will Sterling fit in at Manchester City?

The 20-year-old is set to become the most expensive Englishman in football history, but will Manuel Pellegrini deploy the versatile youngster as a forward or a winger?

From Public Enemy No. 1 to first among Englishmen. Such seems the theme of Raheem Sterling's eventful summer, a time of illness and intrigue, rancour and rows, Merseyside and Manchester

When Sterling was pulled out of Liverpool's flight to Thailand on Sunday as they entered into advanced talks with Manchester City, a saga finally neared resolution. Anfield's resident rebel is set to become City's marquee signing. At a cost of £49 million (€68.3m), he will become the most expensive Englishman ever. After his agent Aidy Ward claimed he would reject any offers of £900,000 (€125,000) a week to stay at Liverpool, his £35,000-a-week (€49,000) wage should be multiplied at the Etihad Stadium.



Given the sums involved, player and purchaser will be scrutinised to see if he, and it, is worth it. Sterling ruined his reputation among the Anfield faithful, soured his relationship with Brendan Rodgers and ignored the advice of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. The chance to become a Liverpool legend was rejected.

To the wider world, he was responsible for his swift transformation from the personification of a bright new generation of high-speed, high-class wunderkinds to the epitome of everything that is wrong with modern footballer. Deemed disloyal, ungrateful, money-grabbing, arrogant and at the centre of a very 21st-century controversy, when he was pictured inhaling laughing gas, he seemed to illustrate that only two letters separate famous from infamous.

Yet talent is guaranteed to attract admirers. Manuel Pellegrini publicly lamented City's inability to sign a superstar last summer. Sterling's tender age means potential outweighs concrete achievements, but they must believe he is a superstar in the making. They must look, too, for him to herald a change in direction and fortunes at the Etihad Stadium.

Their transfer-market policy has been ripped up. City have had too few successes for the last £200m (€280m) they have spent. Newcomers under the Chilean and Txiki Begiristain were often ageing and usually foreign.

Sterling ticks very different boxes. He is a signing to finally position City for the future. His youth and Englishness are vital in the structure of a squad. Sergio Aguero, who has just turned 27, is the youngest player in what might plausibly be City's strongest starting 11. Joe Hart is the only Englishman; just he, third-choice goalkeeper Richard Wright and Gael Clichy qualify as homegrown.

Tactically, the pace and width he offers are essential. He will enable City to stretch opponents, both laterally and vertically. Rodgers enjoyed Sterling's versatility but the more orthodox Pellegrini is less likely to deploy him as either a striker or a wing-back. His duties may be more conventional and less varied now.

Sterling was briefly brilliant in a central role behind the forwards for Liverpool and then England in the spring of 2014. He was a muscular sprinter-cum-dribbler in a position sometimes reserved for delicate creators. Yet in a City squad packed with possible No. 10s - Yaya Toure, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Kevin De Bruyne (should he sign) and Stevan Jovetic (should he stay) - the logical assumption is he will be found on the flanks.

Because City are being subjected to a rethink. Pellegrini's obdurate faith in 4-4-2 was finally shaken, even if he was too stubborn to admit it, by the defeats against Barcelona and Liverpool, when gung-ho boldness was exposed as tactical naivety. The subsequent shift to 4-2-3-1 represented good news for attacking midfielders and a depressing turn of events for strikers not named Aguero.



It allows Pellegrini to field Toure as part of a security blanket of two central midfielders behind a progressive triplet of Silva, Sterling and either Nasri or Jesus Navas. Whereas Silva and Nasri's natural tendencies are to veer infield, Sterling may be charged with staying closer to the touchline.

He should be surrounded by quality, just as he was 18 months ago. It bodes well that, as Liverpool scored 101 goals in 2013-14, he showed he was capable of contributing to devastating counter-attacks and slick, quick passing moves. They have been City's hallmarks at their most exhilarating, too. A fine alliance with Luis Suarez suggests he could combine profitably with Aguero. Stylistic similarities should ease the adaptation process.

Yet money - not to mention Sterling's antics in recent months - applies pressure. His tallies of 10 and 11 goals in the last two seasons have been admirable but not exceptional; albeit in a lesser league, Manchester United's new winger Memphis Depay scored 28 times last year. Sterling's finishing can be terrific, but he is not clinical yet. It is easier to excuse the inconsistency of youth when a player was not priced at around £50m (€70m).

It helps if he has proved himself against the best. Sterling showed too little in Liverpool's brief taste of the Champions League last season. Coupled with City's poor record in Europe, there is a shared responsibility to do better. And, with the exception of the hour when he terrorised Italy in the World Cup, his abundant ability has only really been displayed in England.

In particular, it was apparent on an April day in 2014 when he had the poise to pause as Hart and Vincent Kompany committed themselves before slotting in Liverpool's opener. That is the Sterling - cool, classy and with a confidence that can appear the right sort of arrogance - that he needs to bring to City. It was the form that brought eulogies, not notoriety