Raheem Sterling (£12.0m) could line up as a centre-forward for Manchester in Gameweek 1 and in the early matches of 2019/20.
With Sergio Aguero (£12.0m) and Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m) unlikely to be back in pre-season in time to fully prepare for the campaign ahead, the England international has now spearheaded Pep Guardiola’s attack in three friendlies.
Sterling operating in such an advanced role has caused plenty of excitement in the Fantasy community, altering the nature of comparisons between him and Kevin de Bruyne (£9.5m).
This article serves as a double-up on this interesting new development, covering Manchester City’s latest match as a Scout Notes, whilst also using Members data to assess Sterling’s capabilities as a centre-forward.
Kitchee FC 1-6 Manchester City
Goals: David Silva (£7.5m), Leroy Sané x2 (£9.5m), Raheem Sterling (£12.0m), Nabil Touaizi, José Ángel Pozo
Assists: Sterling x2, Ilkay Gündogan (£5.5m), Kevin de Bruyne (£9.5m), Adria Bernabe
Sterling was at the very heart of Manchester City’s attacking threat as they thrashed Hong Kong outfit Kitchee SC on Wednesday.
The central role allowed him to play a pivotal part in the intricate pass and move play, so it is no surprise that Sterling came away from the latest pre-season friendly with three attacking returns.
He hit the bar with a first-time effort early on, set-up David Silva (£7.5m) for the opener, fired a beautiful effort into the top corner for 3-0 and it was his saved shot that allowed Leroy Sané (£9.5m) to get on the score sheet too.
However, it is hard to read too much into this result given the gulf in class between Manchester City and Kitchee SC.
It would be easy to argue that the 0-0 draw with Wolves last week would be of a better use for assessing Sterling’s centre-forward capabilities.
In that match, Manchester City were quite sluggish and spurned plenty of chances.
Sterling himself started that match brightly but, after missing a penalty, was less involved.
That said, he also led the line for 45 minutes against West Ham three days before that and scored twice, so his time up-front is producing somewhat mixed results so far.
It’s early days in pre-season, of course, and there is plenty of time for Sterling to impress in the centre-forward position against better opposition.
Thankfully, we have the Community Shield coming up to act as a true test of what Sterling is capable of in a different role.
That pits Manchester City against Premier League runners-up Liverpool in a match that both Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp will be desperate to win – which should see the strongest possible line-ups deployed.
What does the data say about Sterling as a centre-forward?
Sterling’s central role during pre-season is proving to be good news for Sané and Bernardo Silva as increased competition on the attacking flanks shores up their place in the team.
As things stand, only Sterling has been involved in more goals this summer than Sané, despite speculation that he might leave the club.
De Bruyne continues to be involved in the goals too, registering an assist for Sané’s second against Kitchee.
While there had been talk of Sterling’s move into the middle, media reports surfaced this week that the Belgian has been asked to play a deeper midfield role.
De Bruyne did not look especially reserved or conservative in his play against the Hong Kong side, continuing to demonstrate his creative credentials.
However, as already mentioned, it is hard to know how much to read into this result. It is possible that the low quality of opposition was what pardoned de Bruyne from having to drop deep.
Again, this is something to look out for in the Community Shield final next month.
The only other Fantasy talking point concerns the defence as managers hope to work out who Pep Guardiola’s preferred full-backs are.
Kyle Walker (£6.0m) remains relatively nailed-on for the right-back berth, but the other flank is still very much in the air.
After three pre-season matches, Angeliño (£5.0m) has started at left-back twice but is currently ahead of Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.5m) on minutes by 136 to 134 – so it is still very much up in the air.
Manchester City XI (4-3-3): Bravo; Angeliño (Zinchenko 46′), Laporte (Dionkou 64′), Stones (Harwood-Bellis 72′), Walker (Danilo 64′); de Bruyne (Doyle 64′), D Silva (Rodri 46′), Gündogan (Foden 72′); Sané (Pozo 72′), Sterling (Touaizi 72′), B Silva (Bernabe 64′).
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