Sterling detailed a strong bond of trust between himself and his manager, one that came through links to Arsenal around the transfer deadline unscathed.
The 22-year-old was mentioned as a potential makeweight in any deal to take Alexis Sanchez from Emirates Stadium to Manchester – rumours that Guardiola strongly refuted – but Sterling never entertained the possibility without word from his boss.
I didn t need to speak with him. I already spoke to him in the summer about pre-season. I didn t have any negative thoughts about it, he explained.
I woke up with England one day and saw it. I didn t believe a word of it. If I d heard something from the manager then I would believe it.
It wasn t something that I was worried about because I think Pep is an honest guy and he would have spoken to me before that. I didn t need to worry about it and didn t think about it for one minute.
Things have rarely looked as rosy at international level for Sterling as they do currently at City, with some below-par performances and the drawn-out nature of his switch from Anfield leaving him as the target of considerable online vitriol.
Sterling infamously referred to himself as #TheHatedOne in an Instagram post during England s ill-fated Euro 2016 campaign but – in comments that drew a warm look of appreciation from Guardiola sitting alongside him – he told reporters he tends to stay away from social media s more unsavoury elements nowadays.
To be fair, my first year here, being really young, I used to always be on Instagram, he said.
You ll see stuff pop up and check it out because you don t know any better. Since I have been getting those negative comments, I realise the best thing to do is not to look at it so it won t affect you.
My thing over the last two seasons has been not to look at it and it won t affect you.
6 Raheem Sterling has scored six goals in his last six Premier League games, more than in his previous 31 combined (5). Form.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Indeed, Sterling is focused upon events on the pitch, with his career-best haul of 11 goals in the 2014-15 season for Liverpool already in his sights.
Something I ve been trying to improve is scoring more goals, being more efficient and being a bit more clinical, he added.
That s been a massive question mark for me over the last few years and I m just trying to build as a player. A player in my position needs to be scoring goals more regularly.
