Has Raheem Sterling Lived Up to His £44M Manchester City Price Tag?

"It's good to know the manager trusts me in these different positions and I'm happy to play in any for my country," Raheem Sterling told Sky Sports News HQ (h/t Lyall Thomas of Sky Sports) ahead of England’s 2016 UEFA European Championship campaign.

He continued:

"

All I can do is keep training well and doing my best, and showing the manager what I can do. It's his decision at the end of the day and I've got to respect that.

The manager has a few players at his disposal and I'm sure whoever he picks will do a good job for the country. It's great to have so many players to choose from.

"

They are typically mature, measured words from a 21-year-old who continues to suffer from widespread misconception. His move from Liverpool to Manchester City last summer saw him cast as a mercenary, a player with too high an opinion of himself, chasing money and showing no loyalty to the club that had developed him for five years.

He was widely criticised, with a range of ex-Liverpool players using their respective positions in the media to attack him, giving rise to a negative reaction from fans across the county. He was booed mercilessly at nearly every away game last season in a weird, heavy-handed outbreak of anger.

It's no wonder he appeared to be suffering a severe crisis of confidence in the final weeks of the season; the whole country was seemingly against him.

Yet anyone who has listened to Sterling speak and watched the way he has applied himself throughout his career knows he’s a consummate professional who has consistently tried to better himself and improve his game. Not for one moment have his critics stopped to think his move to City was about career advancement and the opportunity to play alongside better players, in more high-profile matches.

Liverpool were not his boyhood club—he joined them from Queens Park Rangers for £600,000 back in 2010, another move designed to develop his technical qualities, and that decision, taken when he was just 15, worked out pretty well.

The move to City has been positive for Sterling despite what some may think. His performances suffered during the second half of the campaign, but he has a Capital One Cup winner's medal in his drawer, has produced some fine performances in the Champions League and faces the prospect of working with the best manager in the world when Pep Guardiola takes over this summer. It’s all set up for him.

Has he delivered on his initial £44 million fee yet? The answer, clearly, is no—he struggled at times to influence games in the manner we know he can. His finishing let him down too often, and his decision-making was often rash. The final few months of the campaign saw him drift out of Manuel Pellegrini’s team, playing a full 90 minutes just once in the final 10 weeks of the season.

Given his form at Liverpool, it isn’t what many expected. More often than not, he lit Anfield up with his pace and precociousness. In the 2013/14 season, which saw them go close to winning the title before being pipped by City, he was superb, a teenager making a huge impression at the top end of the game.

He followed that by being arguably England’s best player during their disappointing 2014 World Cup campaign in Brazil before another season of excellence with Liverpool, operating in a number of positions and proving adept wherever he was deployed.

“Raheem is a clever footballer,” former manager Brendan Rodgers told James Pearce at the Liverpool Echo back in 2014.

Stu Forster/Getty Images

Rodgers added:

"

For a young boy, tactically he's very good. That’s what we are trying to do, develop footballers, and it gives me more options. I think he could even play on the side of a diamond. When he starts in the centre he offers us penetration with his speed.

Raheem is intricate in tight spaces. We encourage players to play under pressure with players tight on them, and he can play with bodies around him.

He’s maturing very well. We've seen we have options with him because of his tactical intelligence.

"

There can be few doubts there have been teething problems at City. The expectations and demands are higher than he’s used to. He is no longer the main man. And let’s not forget, he’s still only 21, and young players almost always suffer downturns in form before another surge.

But City are unlikely to be worried. This is a player signed for the long term, not just last season. He penned a five-year deal and was seen as the kind of talent the club could develop, one who could provide years of attacking quality.

There was enough evidence in the first half of the season that their investment will prove to be sound. His hat-trick against Bournemouth. His wizardry away in Seville. The winner against Borussia Monchengladbach under extreme pressure. They were telling contributions that suggest he is the real deal, just as everyone thought he was during his time at Liverpool.

The limitations in his game are obvious—but if ever there were a manager capable of making the necessary alterations, it’s Guardiola, a man with a track record of improving those he works with.

He’ll see a player with searing pace, the ability to operate in a number of roles, skill and intelligence. He’s likely to be excited by the prospect of working with him and turning him into a consistent world-class performer.

Sterling is in the right environment to flourish, and there is more than enough to suggest he will end up repaying the faith and money City have invested in him.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and follows the club from a Manchester base. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @RobPollard_.