Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has said that the club's summer signing Raheem Sterling does not deserve the criticism that he has received since making the switch from Merseyside.
The 20-year-old moved to the Etihad Stadium from Liverpool for a fee of £49million pounds - which made him the most expensive British player in transfer history. However, he has been criticised by the way he left Anfield and his motives behind it.
Raheem criticism un-justified
The Chilean boss has said he does not deserve the criticism aimed his way saying that he has settled in "very well" and that he wanted to come to City to have "new challenges."
The final five months of the England international's career at Liverpool came to an ugly end, in July he snubbed a new contract believed to be worth £200,000-a-week. Shortly before his move to the Eastlands, he'd refused to take part in Liverpool's pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia as well as missing two days of training stating that he was ill.
Talented youngster tipped for great season
Pellegrini went on to say that he is working "very well" and praised the talented youngster - saying that is easy for "good players to settle into a good team." He was also optimistic about Sterling's performances ahead of the coming campaign, stating he believes the club have a "very successful" player in their ranks.
It seems a given that Raheem will start tonight as the sky Blues travel to the west Midlands to take West Brom - as City look to recapture their title from current champions Chelsea.
One man who is expected to miss out is talismanic striker Sergio Agüero, the Argentine has yet to fully recover from his international duty at the Copa América with Pellegrini expected to carry out the same procedure as last year after the World Cup with the striker sitting out of the first two matches to recover properly after a strenous summer of football.
This opens up the opportunity for Wilfried Bony to impress; who is the only other senior striker after the exit of both Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko to Italy joining Inter Milan and AS Roma respectively.
Manchester City will take on West Brown at the Hawthorns this evening with kick-off scheduled to start at 8pm UK time. We'll have all the pre-match build-up, live minute-by-minute coverage and post-match analysis here on VAVEL throughout the night as the final fixture from the first week of the new season comes to a close.
