Why Man City sold Raheem Sterling & Gabriel Jesus in the same summer

Manchester City sold Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus during the summer to Chelsea and Arsenal respectively in order to clear a path for Julian Alvarez to thrive.

That is what Sky Sports pundit and eight-time Premier League champion Gary Neville has revealed he was told by a trusted source close to City.

Sterling had been a major part of City’s success under Pep Guardiola, scoring 78 Premier League goals between 2017 and 2022 alone in a five-season period where the club won four titles. Jesus, although not as prolific, was also an important player in that squad.

For the pair of them, City pocketed around £92m, having spent £14m on Alvarez.

Their departures coincided with the arrival of the 22-year-old. He was officially signed from River Plate in January but was allowed to remain on loan with the Argentine club until July.

“I was told when City let Jesus and Sterling go – because I was quite surprised that City let both go at the same time – that this kid was the reason,” Neville said of Alvarez on the Sky Sports World Cup podcast.

“Someone said that to me, that is quite close to City, that he was the reason and they didn’t want to block his path.”

Alvarez has been afforded time to settle in England, starting only a handful of Premier League games but appearing much more regularly in the Champions League.

His performances for Argentina at the World Cup have also been lauded, netting twice and assisting once in the semi-final win over Croatia to send his country to this coming weekend’s final, and it is increasingly clear just why City have had so much faith in his ability.

Harry Symeou hosts Andy Headspeath, Quentin Gesp and Jack Gallagher to look back on the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia - join us!

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