When Manchester City were pursuing Alexis Sanchez in the summer, it seemed Raheem Sterling would be cast in the role of fall-guy under Pep Guardiola.

Although Guardiola has since said there was no chance of Sterling being included as part of City's ultimately failed attempt to sign Sanchez from Arsenal, it is difficult to see how the England winger would have fitted in had the Chilean moved to the Etihad.

With a formidable array of attacking talent including Segio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and David Silva, not to mention new £43million signing Bernardo Silva, Sterling seemed the most vulnerable to Sanchez's potential arrival.

But City's failure to land Sanchez has arguably been the making of Sterling, who has stepped up a level this season, proving his enduring worth to the Premier League leaders and making himself undroppable in the process.

Sterling scores against Napoli (
Image:
Getty Images Europe)

The 22-year-old continued his sparkling renaissance with his key role in City's 2-1 Champions League win over Napoli on Tuesday, scoring the opener after four minutes and causing Napoli's defence all sorts of problems with his pace, movement and effectiveness on the ball.

Sterling was on hand to steer the lose ball into the net after Kyle Walker's shot was initially blocked, taking his goal tally to eight for the season, already just three short of his best-ever haul in a single campaign, the return indicative of the improvement in his game.

He has made himself a permanent fixture on the right of City's front three, alongside fellow young stars Jesus and Sane, the trio keeping on the bench star striker Sergio Aguero, who is making his way back slowly following a broken rib suffered in a car accident.

Sterling celebrates his goal on Tuesday (
Image:
AFP)

Sterling's goal on Tuesday owed much to Guardiola's influence, the City boss giving him the freedom to move around the pitch into a more central position, rather than staying out wide, as former City boss Manuel Pellegrini had demanded. It was this licence to come inside that enabled Sterling to be in the right place at the right time to convert City's first goal.

“It's something I've tried to improve, scoring more goals, being more efficient and being a bit more clinical,” said Sterling on the eve of the Napoli game. 'That's been a massive question mark to me over the last few years.

“I need to continue focusing on getting in the goalscoring areas. That's the most important thing for me, trying to get inside the box, because that's where the majority of my goals come from.
“I'm hoping to get into double figures this year. As a player in my position, I need to be scoring goals more regularly.”

After such a fine start to the season, Sterling will comfortably reach double figures and could even reach 20 goals if he carries on at his current rate of scoring.

Pep Guardiola has brought the best out of Sterling (
Image:
Getty)

Sterling credits Guardiola with his return to form, for allowing him to play to his strengths – taking on defenders and using his pace to outstrip opponents, few of whom can live with him when he hits his stride, while his work-rate off the ball has also improved.

Off the field, Sterling also appears to have matured, shunning the malevolent and dangerous platform of social media, adding more discipline to his craft and ensuring the slew of salacious stories about his private life has dried up.

Kevin De Bruyne is the overwhelming favourite to end up as City's Player of the Season, and is already in line to scoop the PFA Player of the Year and Footballer of the Year accolades, but Sterling, if he can maintain his current level throughout the campaign, will not be far behind him.