MANCHESTER CITY’S Raheem Sterling was always destined to play on foreign fields but his club’s two year ban from the Champions League may well speed up that move.

Spanish giants Real Madrid ‘will go all-out to sign Raheem Sterling’ in the wake of City’s two-year Champions League ban.

City were rocked recently when UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body imposed the two-year ban as a result of breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations.

There is now every chance that manager Pep Guardiola and some of the club’s key players will move on if they cannot play in Europe’s elite club competition.

According to reports, giants Real were already planning a £180million swoop for England star Sterling before City’s shock news. With City now in something of a predicament, could Sterling now become football’s £200 million pound player.

KNOWLEDGE

Now, they will intensify their efforts further in the knowledge that City will have to tighten their belts if they miss out on a £170m Champions League bonanza.

Sterling, 25, is under contract at the Etihad Stadium for another three years and talks started in November to increase his salary from £300,000-a-week to £450,000-a-week.

Sterling’s star has risen every season since his move from Liverpool for nearly £50 million pounds five years ago. He has been an integral part of Guardiola’s teams that have won two Premier League titles in recent seasons.

Jamaica-born Sterling has arguably been City’s most improved player during their glory days. He has notched 35 Premier League goals in the last two campaigns and already has 11 this term.

EXPECTED

The England ace has played fro his country 56 times and is expected to be a key cog in the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 bid in the summer.

Brazil ace Neymar more than doubled the world record transfer fee when he moved to PSG from Barcelona for £198 million three years ago. The move was easily the world’s biggest football transfer of all-time. Second on the list is French protege Kylian Mbappe who moved from Monaco to PSG for £160 million in 2018.