The Citizens will begin their preparations for the new season in a buoyant mood after securing the high profile capture of former Liverpool star Raheem Sterling. After months of speculation and ambiguity as to what the future holds for the young English star, Liverpool finally agreed to let go their man for a mammoth fee of 49 million pounds.
The 20 year old has joined the squad for their pre-season campaign however Manuel Pellegrini has stated that he is not ready as yet to feature against their opponents on Saturday.
“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," the Chilean said.
Pellegrini further praised Sterling hailing him as a very bright prospect and claimed that his various talents make him a suitable candidate for different positions.
“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.”
Man City were involved in a fixture against Adelaide United on Tuesday in a closed-doors warm-up game a match they subsequently won 2-0, but Saturday's fixture will be their first proper warm up match.
Most of the first team stars are expected to feature on Saturday including the likes of Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko.
The Citizens despite their disappointments in the last season ended their campaign on a strong note, registering wins in all of their last five matches. Their opponents Melbourne City on the other hand had a less than impressive conclusion to their campaign suffering defeats in three of their last four matches.
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