Raheem Sterling completes £49m transfer from Liverpool to Manchester City

Manchester United may have hogged the headlines with their high-profile purchases of late, but Manchester City could finally celebrate securing their No 1 target Raheem Sterling on Tuesday.

The England winger put an end to one of the most acrimonious transfer sagas of modern times by completing his £49million move from Liverpool.

That sum makes Sterling the most expensive English footballer to date and new manager Manuel Pellegrini surely hopes the 20-year-old will help wrestle the Barclays Premier League title from Chelsea.

Pellegrini, who complained that City could not be successful in the top-flight and Champions League without more ‘crack’ players, heaped praise on his new arrival.

‘Raheem Sterling is one of the best attacking players in world football, and I am very much looking forward to him joining our squad out in Australia later this week,’ said Pellegrini.

‘He is a young player with outstanding ability, and I am sure the Manchester City fans will be very excited about seeing him in action for the team.’

Sterling also becomes Manchester City’s record signing and the third most expensive purchase made by a Premier League club after Angel Di Maria and Fernando Torres — though he will hope to prove better value-for-money than either of them. 

Credit: Joe Bernstein/SportsMail