CITY WINGER STERLING IN GOALDEN AGE

MATCHDAY THREE

BY DAVID ANDERSON HE was little more than a boy when he joined Manchester City but now Raheem Sterling is the man.

Four years on from his acrimonious move from Liverpool and he feels he is coming of age at City.

Sterling was just 20 in 2015 and great things were expected of him because his £49million transfer fee made him the most-expensive English player ever at that time.

That fee now looks a bargain and after a slow start to his City career, he hit 31 goals for club and country last season.

Sterling, 24, is on course to beat that tally and his 11-minute hat-trick against Atalanta – his fourth treble of 2019 – took his haul for City and the Three Lions to 16 in just 17 games.

He is maturing under Pep Guardiola and accepts his manager’s challenge to push himself to keep improving.

He said: “One thing is age. I was 19 or 20 when I came to City and I was nowhere near the maturity level I am now.

“Another is being in a good team and then the final thing is down to yourself – it’s what you want to do in football.

“Do you want to be a winger who takes 10 people on and delivers nothing or do you want to be someone who helps win games for your team?

“All that comes with maturity. I keep learning each day to be better at it, to be involved in the game and effective.”

Sterling was in devastating form against

STERLING: GAMES & GOALS

LIVERPOOL Mat 2011-15 ................ 129 2015-Present ..... 204 Appearances and England goals year by year Year 2012 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Total 1 12 7 9 6 12 8 Gls 23 0 0 2 0 0 2 8 12 81 Atalanta as he also crossed for Sergio Aguero’s opener and won the penalty for the Argentinian’s second.

He is taking on more responsibility to make and take goals but in a sign of his growing maturity, he refused to bask in the glory of collecting another match ball and instead focused on Villa on Saturday.

He added: “I’m thriving on just waiting for the next game. I can’t wait for the weekend to hopefully get some chances.”