Man City still eyeing new signings – Pellegrini

RAHEEM STERLING will hope to justify the fuss as Manchester City begin their Barclays Premier League campaign at West Brom tonight. At the moment, it is looking like the £44 million plus add-ons paid for Sterling is paying off, but that can only be fully observed after a full season at the club.

The Chilean won the Premier League and Capital One Cup in his first season at the club, but failed to win anything last year which led to speculations about his future.

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.

Raheem Sterling is tough enough to handle any crowd abuse this season, according to new Manchester City team-mate Fernandinho.

As City midfielder Fernandinho admitted to the Guardian, “The biggest thing to improve is defensively”. The attacking part of the team is very strong, and it’s about improving consistency in defence. “I believe we have learned the lesson and I’m confident the new season will be much better”.

Pellegrini added: “We will do everything we can to bring the title back”.

Though the midfield oozes quality, depth at forward behind Aguero may be a concern since both Stevan Jovetic (Inter Milan), Alvaro Negredo (Valencia) have already departed, and Edin Dzeko has passed his medical to join AS Roma. Frank Lampard, meanwhile, has ended his one-year stay at the club to make a belated start to life in the MLS with New York City.

Now it is City’s turn to finally enter the fray when they face West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Monday night.

They were inhibited at times last season, and a far cry from the thrilling team that snatched the title from Liverpool’s grasp in the last week of the 2013-14 season.

City’s other high-profile summer recruit, Fabian Delph, is unavailable for the opening weeks of the season because of injury but Fernandinho is convinced the squad is stronger for the arrival of the pair.

City’s priority, however, is to win the league but Pellegrini is refusing to believe the title race will be anything but a fiercely-fought battle between as many as five different clubs. “He will give us speed”, said Pellegrini in his pre-match interview for Sky Sports and it soon showed with Craig Gardner not taking any chances – cynically tripping Sterling as he looked to break free at pace. He’s maybe becoming too predictable when he’s in that position.