Raheem Sterling claims his treatment by Manchester City before his sale to Chelsea left his situation at the club untenable.
Sterling cited “misunderstandings” and “contracts running down” as reasons for his anger at City, where he had played for seven years and clearly expected that to lead to more respect.
He started just 23 Premier League games last season and was left out of both Champions League semi-final legs against Real Madrid as well as the final-day title decider against Aston Villa.
Sterling’s contract was allowed to run down to the eve of its last 12 months even though Pep Guardiola said in February: “Nobody doubts how important it is.
“What I want is [day after day] to play good. Not just him, but all the players. If we count the amount of games he has played since we are together, it is a lot. He is a key player.
“About the future, I don’t know what is going to happen. The club decides. I give my opinion but of course the club takes the decision all the time.”
Aguero slams ‘strange decision’ from Man City to sell Sterling to Chelsea
It seems that City made the decision that Sterling was expendable and he has now spoken extensively to Sky Sports about the situation ahead of a Premier League clash with Leeds United.
“Everyone wants to feel wanted, football is no different,” said Sterling. “When you play your heart out, sacrifice some of your kids’ birthdays, and then get treated in a certain way, it’s disappointing.
“At the time I was fuming, raging, but it’s gone, it’s in the past and I can only focus on the present, which is now, here at Chelsea, and the opportunity I’ve got here to go out and showcase my talents once again.”
Sterling was then asked about his biggest bones of contention and said: “Misunderstandings, contracts running down. It was a shame to see how it ended in the end because I had such a great time there.
“A lot of things came into play, a lot of reasons, but I wasn’t complaining, I was ready to challenge and, as you can see, even with some of the performances I put in, you couldn’t guarantee yourself a place so it just didn’t make sense to fight a battle you can never win.
“As a player you always want to do your best and help your team, but when you don’t think things are going fairly, it’s always a disappointment.
“If you are not happy playing your football you’ve got to look at other options to get that happiness back, and that’s exactly what I have…
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