It’s no secret that Raheem Sterling nearly left Manchester City over the summer and Sport say Barcelona were ‘trying to sign’ him without succeeding.
Sporting director Mateu Alemany was secretly targeting Sterling in the last week of the summer transfer window before the deal ‘fell through’. Sport say the reason why came down to City’s failure to sign a striker.
Sergio Aguero was released at the end of his contract and went on to join Barcelona. City wanted Harry Kane to replace the 33-year-old but failed to procure his signature due to his lofty asking price.
Sterling wasn’t granted a departure as a result, so he’s still at the Etihad Stadium for now. The 26-year-old isn’t commanding a regular starting place under Pep Guardiola, however, so his future is still up in the air.
Why Barcelona are so desperate to sign Sterling with Memphis Depay, Philippe Coutinho, Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembele and Yusuf Demir at their disposal while having £1.2bn of debt remains to be seen though.
Sport aren’t closing the door on Barca making a move in the winter transfer window, but it’s hard to see their attempts working mid-season.
In other news, Man City ‘interested’ in highly-rated Stoke City youngster compared to Harry Kane