Has Guardiola unwittingly moulded Sterling into Real Madrid’s next No.7?

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Out of nowhere late in the transfer window, Real Madrid have allegedly picked up an interest in Raheem Sterling.

The England wing-wizard is coming off an incredible season where he helped fire Manchester City to a record-setting Premier League title win. Sterling’s stock rose considerably as he smashed home a career-high 23 goals in all competitions, including 18 in the Premier League. His penchant for late game dramatics was crucial for Pep Guardiola’s men.

Guardiola himself has gone on record praising Sterling, but has the Catalan’s coaching unwittingly turned Sterling into the perfect transfer target for Real Madrid in the wake of Los Blancos selling Cristiano Ronaldo? Certainly, when you hear Guardiola talking about Sterling’s qualities, you can see it.

“His understanding of the game is global: he’s a guy who can create inside, make a movement outside, dribbling, runs in behind,” said Guardiola, whilst keeping reality in check by reminding us of Sterling’s weaknesses; “he misses simple balls still, and he has to be more aggressive in this kind of things.”

But whilst Guardiola would never get too carried away in terms of his praise for anyone; you can almost hear the excitement in his voice when he talks about Sterling: “sometimes we judge him about ‘he missed that goal’, ‘he missed again that shot’, but the amount of actions he creates, the assists today, he creates fouls, penalties, because he’s so fast and quick, sometimes he is unstoppable in those situations.”

And this is why Madrid are looking at Sterling with the eyes emoji; he’s turned into a bonafide game-changing winger. Sterling’s goals won City an extra 11 points during the season, and that’s only looking at the easily quantifiable six winners and equalisers. The other 12 goals also factored into City winning; in fact Guardiola’s men never lost when Sterling scored. As much as any of their forwards, Sterling was a talismanic presence. Without him they wouldn’t have won the league, because most of the wins he delivered came in the campaign’s early months, before City really found their rhythm.

All of that sounds like he’s become a player tailor-made for Real Madrid, right? He’s a devastating winger with a penchant for scoring dramatic and important goals. Sound like anyone Real Madrid recently lost? Of course Sterling doesn’t score in anything like the volume Cristiano Ronaldo did for Los Blancos, but he’s only 23 so has plenty of room to grow into that player.

Would he, though?

Sterling has always thrived under intense coaching, his best displays as a player have come under Brendan Rogers and Pep Guardiola, two tactically intense coaches. Sterling has even said that Guardiola’s tough-love approach brings the best out of him, saying: “I remember coming on against Crystal Palace. I lost the ball three times and I didn’t think I was going to play until the end of the season after he killed me in the dressing room,” concluding: “a manager like that brings the best out of you, when he makes sure to tell you when you’re in the wrong.”

So, would he fit in at Real Madrid? Where the superstar players are king and Julen Lopetegui isn’t going to be on the kind of sure-footing Guardiola is at the Etihad? It could be an environment in which Sterling thrives, but with the hyper-critical Madrid fans (who still haven’t warmed to Gareth Bale despite him winning them two Champions League finals and firing them to a third!) and managerial instability, the Santiago Bernabeu could easily swallow Sterling up and spit him out. If it can happen to James Rodriguez and Angel Di Maria, it can happen to anyone.

Moreover, there’s the point that, do Madrid even have a spot for him on the field? With Gareth Bale looking like he will ascend to be the side’s new star, and with Marco Asensio coming of age on the other flank, there doesn’t appear to be a wing slot open. Of course Sterling could displace Asensio, but that seems unlikely given how much faith is placed in the youngster as the next great Spanish player. Madrid have spent a long time grooming Asensio for superstardom, and now he looks ready for it.

The weakest point in their front three is actually striker Karim Benzema. The Frenchman is a legend, but is injury-prone and could easily be replaced by a more consistent goalscorer as Los Blancos look to fill in the goalscoring gap Cristiano Ronaldo has left with an actual striker. That is not Sterling, and whilst a more fluid system with Gareth Bale as a striker is possible, Lopetegui has always shown a preference for using an actual no. 9 in attack.

So, yes, Pep Guardiola has probably turned Raheem Sterling into exactly the kind of goalscoring game-changing winger that Real Madrid would love to have in their side, and yes he would slot right into that no. 7 shirt Cristiano has left vacant. But given Los Blancos already have two goalscoring game-changing wingers on their books, and given that Sterling’s main weakness is his inconsistency in front of goal, it’s hard to see a situation where Madrid turn to him as their latest Galactico.

The post Has Guardiola unwittingly moulded Sterling into Real Madrid’s next No.7? appeared first on Squawka News.



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