City surprised by Sterling’s desire to leave

MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola said he was not aware that Raheem Sterling was open to leaving the Premier League club due to a lack of playing time but added he could not provide assurances to any player over a spot in the starting line-up.

Sterling, who is under contract with City until 2023, said he is willing to look for opportunities abroad, having fallen out of favour with Guardiola this season and starting only two of seven league games.

“I didn’t know it. I didn’t think the club knew. Raheem is our player, hopefully he will be an incredibly important player for us. I don’t know if he wants to play more,” Guardiola told a news conference yesterday.

“What I want from Raheem and everyone is they have to be satisfied to be here and delighted to be here. If that’s not the case, he has to take the best decision for his family.

“I was a player, I understand completely. I wanted to play. All of them want to play every game but I cannot assure them.”

Guardiola added that he cannot favour any one player in his City squad, saying he treats all players equally regardless of whether they are an academy product or an international.

“I have to treat Cole Palmer the same as Kevin De

Bruyne,” Guardiola continued.

“When it’s going well everything is happy. When it’s not, the (person) responsible is just me. So I take the decisions (that are) best for the club, not for the players and not for me.”

Guardiola said Ferran Torres could be out for two-anda-half to three months after the forward sustained a foot fracture on international duty with Spain but defender Oleksandr Zinchenko and midfielder Ilkay Gundogan are back in training.

Ederson and Gabriel Jesus will not be in contention for today’s game against Burnley, however, after playing for Brazil on Thursday.

City have won each of their last four home games against Burnley 5-0 but Guardiola downplayed his team’s record and praised counterpart Sean Dyche, whose side are currently 18th in the league standings.

“Burnley was in this position many times but they always come back because they never give up. The manager plays a certain way, he’s a machine doing that. The way how he commits to his principles, that’s why he stays in the Premier League a long time,” Guardiola said. Meanwhile, Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is set to be included in the squad for today’s trip to Leicester City while captain Harry Maguire has resumed training following a calf strain, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said yesterday.

Rashford underwent shoulder surgery in August and hasn’t played since England’s Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy in July.

Solskjaer confirmed that Maguire’s centre back partner Raphael Varane will be out for “a few weeks” due to a groin injury he picked up while playing for France. Midfielder Fred and striker Edinson Cavani will also be unavailable following their involvement in the World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Uruguay on Thursday.

United have a tough run of fixtures coming up, with Leicester followed by league games against Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, as well as home and away ties against Atalanta in the Champions League. Solskjaer insisted that United would only focus on one game at a time.

“I can’t think of Atalanta or Liverpool, only Leicester, the key is we think one game at a time. We’re looking forward to this run, every good player wants to play the best teams and we’ve got some of the best teams coming up,” he said.

United are fourth in the standings with 14 points from seven games but are winless in their last two. Leicester are 13th with eight points. | Reuters