5 Manchester City players who must step up in the absence of Kevin de Bruyne

#4 Raheem Sterling

Sterling scored 18 league goals last season

Although Sterling is already a key part of this Manchester City side from the wing, he will need to do better now de Bruyne is unavailable. Pep Guardiola has done an excellent job of improving Sterling, and that was shown in the figures last year. He scored 18 Premier League goals, a career best, as well as providing 11 assists, also the most Sterling has managed in a single season.

There is still room for improvement for the Englishman though. He is still only 23, so is a few years from hitting his peak. Despite having his best season last time out, he still missed a number of excellent chances, and he could easily have got himself 25-30 goals last season. He missed 12 ‘big chances’ last season according to statistics and had a shooting accuracy of just 40%. City will miss out on the goals and assists of de Bruyne in the next few months, and Sterling must play his part in making up for that.