Man City star Raheem Sterling on course to surpass Lionel Messi as Pep Guardiola’s most used player ever

Raheem Sterling is set to be Pep Guardiola’s most used player ever.

The Spaniard has managed some of the world’s greatest players while bossing Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City.

Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Kevin de Bruyne are some of the footballers that come to mind.

Messi is currently Guardiola’s most used player with 219 appearances under him.

The pair lifted three LaLiga titles and two Champions League trophies during his four years in charge at the Camp Nou.

However, Sterling appears to be Guardiola’s favourite player!

The England forward has played 201 times since Guardiola arrived at the Etihad in 2016.

The 49-year-old has rotated the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden over the years, but Sterling almost always keeps his starting place on the left or right wing.

With just 18 appearances needed to catch Messi, Sterling is very likely to surpass him if he stays fit this season.

The former Liverpool star enjoyed his best ever scoring season last term with 29 goals in all competitions.

And he opened his account for the Premier League 2020/21 campaign with a fine strike in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Leeds.

In July, Guardiola backed Sterling to get even better.

“Every player can get better, every team can get better, every manager can get better. He has this mentality to do it,” he said.

“For a long time, he has been getting better. His finishing, his shooting and that’s because he trains hard.”