There were a few boos for Raheem Sterling and a rather unkind comparison to the West Bromwich Albion centre-forward to contend with – “You’re just a shit Berahino” chanted the home supporters – but this felt like the most gentle of introductions to life as the most expensive English footballer.
The man Manuel Pellegrini describes as “one of the best attacking players in world football” coasted through his Premier League debut for his new club and finished the evening with the City fans serenading him. “Raheem Sterling, he’s top of the league,” sang the travelling supporters as Sterling strolled over to them at the final whistle to hand over his No7 shirt.
Albion’s stewards, reluctant to let Sterling get too near to the stand, provided more resistance than the West Bromwich defence in a match that City dominated from start to finish and cantered to a 3-0 victory. As for Sterling, the £49m man could reflect on a satisfying night’s work, albeit one when he was reduced to the role of being part of the supporting cast as the marauding Yaya Touré and mercurial David Silva stole the show.
Whether Sterling is worthy of his manager’s description is open to debate and 74 minutes at The Hawthorns – Samir Nasri was brought on to replace him with the game effectively over - is no time to make a judgment. All that can be said for now is the relationship between player and club has got off to an encouraging start.
If there is one chink in Sterling’s armour at the moment it is his goal ratio – he scored 23 in 129 appearances for Liverpool – and the two chances that were passed up either side of the interval added weight to the theory he needs to show more conviction in front of goal to belong among the leading talents in world football. The first chance in particular was a bad miss. It was almost as if Sterling had too much time as he sized up his shot and placed it far too closely to Boaz Myhill.
There will, however, be plenty of opportunities for City to refine the finishing skills of a player who has yet to celebrate his 21st birthday. Pellegrini refused to criticise Sterling for his profligacy and also made the point he will take time to adapt to new team-mates and a different style of play.
Not that the transition should take long. Touré, who looked like a player eager to make up for lost time after last season’s trials and tribulations, and Silva, who was given far too much space to wreak havoc, must be a dream to line up alongside and that is before we get to Sergio Agüero. Last season’s leading scorer in the Premier League came off the bench in the second half and it is easy to imagine Sterling rubbing his hands at the prospect of playing with that trio.
In many ways it must have come as a relief for Sterling to get on to the pitch and make his first competitive appearance for the club after the saga that his record-breaking transfer from Liverpool turned into over the summer.
Few will have any sympathy for Sterling given the way things were handled, with neither the player nor his agent, Aidy Ward, covering themselves in glory with how they engineered his departure from Anfield.
An opportunistic interview on April Fool’s Day ignited the storm – “I don’t want to be perceived as a money-grabbing 20-year-old,” said Sterling as he confirmed he was turning down a six-figure weekly wage at Liverpool – and his relationship with the club deteriorated before the acrimonious tale came to an end with his move to City last month.
Barely out of his teenage years, Sterling lives his life in the public gaze and he awoke on the morning of this game to a story on the front page of one of the tabloids about him. “Sterling Merc in laughing gas car smash” was the headline in the Sun. A friend is alleged to have borrowed his £125,000 car, had a prang and when the vehicle was taken to Manchester for repair work, two nitrous oxide canisters were apparently spotted close to the front seat.
On the pitch is where Sterling goes through the gears best, and there were glimpses of that searing pace here, when Fernandinho and Silva provided the supply line for those two openings that saw him sprint clear of James Chester. Some will have enjoyed seeing Sterling fail to make his mark, and there will be stadiums where he receives a much more hostile reception, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion the England forward will enjoy himself in this City team.
