Sterling not thinking about Manchester City departure

The agent of Raheem Sterling insists his client is completely focused on Manchester City and not considering his future at the club.

City were hit with a two-year ban from the Champions League on Friday, which has cast doubts over the long-term futures of some of their best players.

Real Madrid were already interested in Sterling before Friday's shock news and now they will be watching his future even more closely.

Failing to overturn UEFA's ban would leave City with an uphill battle in convincing the likes of Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne to spend their peak years at a club unable to challenge for top honours.

However, Sterling's agent, Aidy Ward, has moved to quash speculation linking the England international with an imminent move away.

"Raheem is solely focused on Manchester City and will not be distracted by any talk of transfers to any club at the moment," he told The Daily Mirror.

After years of being missunderstood, Sterling's reputation on and off the pitch has soared in the last few years.

Sterling has played a direct hand in 39 goals in 57 Premier League appearances since the beginning of last season, though is without a goal or an assist in each of his last five outings in the competition.

The 25-year-old required just six group stage games to match his goal tally from the entirety of last season's Champions League campaign (five goals).