Raheem Sterling the right buy at a critical time for Manchester City

By many pundits, Raheem Sterling is being called “overpriced” at £49 million. However, when you consider the £35 million Liverpool spent on Andy Carroll, the £50 million Chelsea spent on Fernando Torres and even the £28 million Manchester City just spent in January on Wilfried Bony, Sterling looks a potential bargain.

Sterling will join an aging squad whose youngest probable starter before the addition of the pacey English winger is 27 year-old Sergio Aguero. To put it bluntly, Manchester City has an old squad in desperate need of freshening up. Perhaps £49 million is a tremendous outlay, but for a young English player, who is already nearly indispensable for Roy Hodgson’s England team and a player that meets multiple needs for the Blues, it’s probably going to be money well spent.

What many of the critics of this deal have failed to acknowledge is that Manchester City suffered from a clear lack of pace and directness during the 2014-15 season. Often times, the Blues would dominate possession with a real purpose, relying on patient and slow build-up play before being dispossessed or worse yet caught out on the counter.

SEE MORE — Raheem Sterling completes £49 million transfer to Manchester City

By injecting more pace into the City side, the Blues will be able to potentially match Chelsea’s lethal counter-attacking prowess. Last season, Manchester City failed to capitalize on counter attacking moves often enough to compete for the title and also struggled on set pieces.

For several years now, the Blues have consistently lacked width in midfield or the attack. Sterling could change that and as a result create more space for David Silva to operate shifting from the left side into the middle of the pitch. Sterling’s pace can help open up space. Plus, the creativity of Silva and others will allow Sterling pockets in which to operate, making dangerous runs into attacking areas. Sterling is not Scott Sinclair nor Adam Johnson, even though in the last 48 hours these comparisons have been made. Both Sinclair and Johnson were uncapped by England’s senior side when signed by the Blues and both players lacked the end product or the tactical flexibility of Sterling.

Manchester City has previously grossly overpaid for several players from the continent in their mid to late 2000’s. Sterling is still just 20 and has two above average Premier League seasons under his belt, in addition to a third season where he was one of the most influential players in the division.

The newly created revisionist narrative of Liverpool fans and some in the media is alarming. It once again demonstrates that if a player seeks to leave Liverpool he can expect harsh treatment from media whereas if a player were to protest in the same way to leave let’s say Sunderland or Leicester City, he might just be lauded for his “ambition.”

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Considering the increased asking price for many English players and the needs City possess, £49 million could be a bargain in the long run for a player that ticks a lot of boxes and could be with the club for years. Besides, if Manchester City did not close the Sterling deal, he could have eventually been a Chelsea player or Gunners footballer.

The City squad that entered this weekend are simply not good enough to win the Premier League title. Are they good enough to even compete for the title? That’s debatable, especially considering the upgrades already made by Manchester United and Arsenal. This was all the more reason a potentially transformative player like Sterling needed to be secured irrespective of the arguably inflated price tag.

It is also important for Manchester City to have some link to the England setup. In Sterling, they’ve signed a player likely to be core piece of the Three Lions for years to come.

Perhaps I am being naïve, and the legions of critics are justified in pillaging this deal. However, at this point I have to believe City’s signing of Sterling is a coup that will improve the squad and ultimately pay off for the player.