Wayne Rooney has piled the praise on Pep Guardiola for the transformation in Raheem Sterling - and hailed the Catalan coach for transforming the England forward into a leading Player of the Year contender.
Manchester United and England's record goalscorer believes much of Sterling's improvement in front of goal has been down to a new found belief under Guardiola and that his knowledge of the game has improved greatly.
Sterling has already scored 15 goals and registered nine assists for Manchester City in the league this season and has proven himself as a key player in the title-chasing side.
Rooney even thinks Sterling has made a case for being voted the best player in the league this season thanks to his continued output at club level.
“He’s been fantastic. You need to give Pep Guardiola a lot of credit," Rooney told talkSPORT.
“Raheem has always had the talent and the ability but one thing he’s improved on massively is his knowledge of the game and tactically he’s a lot better from working with Guardiola.
“Raheem, to get his head down and work on that, is fantastic. I’m really pleased for him.
“He’ll be up for Player of the Year this season.”
It has been a remarkable rise for the 24-year-old, who has been the subject of much media condemnation throughout his playing career.
The City forward even approached England coach Gary Neville during Euro 2016 due to ‘vicious’ criticism from fans, and England record scorer Rooney admits the squad were baffled as to why he had been targetted.
Rooney continued: “He is a great person. At times he got a lot of stick which it was baffling for us as players as to why it was happening. We didn’t really understand it.”
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