Raheem Sterling must win back Pep Guardiola's confidence in order to win back his Manchester City place, according to Nigel de Jong.
Sterling has found starts hard to come by this season, particularly in the bigger games, and he publicly admitted he'd be open to leaving City if he wasn't playing more often before the win over Burnley on Saturday.
The comments led to Guardiola sending a message to his whole squad — that the only way they will influence his selection decisions is through performances on the training pitch and the games he plays them.
Sterling started the Premier League win over Burnley at the weekend, playing mostly through the middle, but struggled to influence the game against a stubborn opposition. He then lost his place for the trip to Club Brugge, with Jack Grealish returning on the left.
The England man did come off the bench in Belgium, and had a number of good chances, but couldn't find the target to score what could have been a morale-boosting goal.
And speaking before the Brugge game, former City midfielder De Jong told BeIN Sports that Sterling is firmly out of favour Guardiola's thoughts.
De Jong said: "The last couple of weeks we've seen Raheem Sterling isn't his favourite player anymore. Especially with the likes of Grealish coming into the squad since the beginning of the season. We all know Raheem Sterling's favourite position is coming in from that left. That position now is filled by Grealish.
"It's obvious Pep Guardiola doesn't see him as a number nine, as a front man, as a target man, it's difficult for Sterling to come into the team at this stage.
"We can see Sterling isn't part of Guardiola's favourite front three men, so it's a big test to come back into the team.
"He's been talking about it, about his frustration and lack of minutes and that says something as well. It's going to be hard for him to get the confidence back from Guardiola if he doesn't get any minutes."
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