"I need to be playing football" - Manchester City's Raheem Sterling on being open to moving abroad amid rumored Barcelona interest
Raheem Sterling has opened the door for a move to Barcelona by claiming he is ready to leave Manchester City. The former Liverpool star wants game time – something that has been difficult for him to get at the Etihad this season.
Manchester City signed Jack Grealish this summer for a record £100 million from Aston Villa, which has reduced Sterling's time on the pitch. The Englishman faced competition from Ferran Torres earlier as well. But with the Spaniard now out for some time with a fractured foot, Pep Guardiola is likely to hand more game time to Sterling.
Ferran Torres injury update ⬇️
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The Manchester City star has now confirmed he is open to taking up a new challenge if he does not get to play regularly at the Etihad. Sterling has been linked with Barcelona in the last couple of weeks and those rumors seem to have some weight to them.
Speaking at the FT Business of Sport US summit, the Englishman said:
"If there was the opportunity to go somewhere else, I would be open to it. At this moment in time, football is the most important thing to me. I have always had something that maybe one day I would love to play abroad and see how I meet that challenge. I am not someone who complains. I have not tried to make it a bigger deal than it is. I am just raring to go, play football and score regularly."
Sterling's statements seem to indicate that a move to Barcelona could be on the cards.
Barcelona target Raheem Sterling not happy with anti-racism efforts
Raheem Sterling has feels the authorities have not taken a serious effort to end racist abuse in the game. The Barcelona target claims he has taken a step back with respect to speaking publicly on the issue as he concentrates more on doing what is in his power.
"If it was comments about something else, it would be taken a lot more seriously. Racist abuse I don't feel, is taken as seriously as other topics. It is something that we are still talking about and it is still happening."
Manchester City face Burnley tomorrow (October 16) in the Premier League before taking on Club Brugge. The Belgian outfit are unbeaten in the Champions League this season.
Raheem Sterling: "If there's an option to go to another team to get more minutes, I'll be open to that."