World-class Sterling will be a good signing for City – Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes “world-class” Raheem Sterling will prove to be a good purchase for Premier League title rivals Manchester City.

England international Sterling is on the verge of moving to the Etihad Stadium, with Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers confirming earlier on Monday that a deal has been agreed with an unnamed club for his sale.

Despite admiring the winger, Wenger believes it would have been difficult for Arsenal to sign him due to the plethora of options the Frenchman has available in attacking positions.

Some have questioned whether City’s reported outlay of £49million represents value for money, but Wenger said: “It’s a good buy for Man City. An expensive one, but they can afford it.

“It looked a done deal for a while, because Sterling said he wanted to leave. For me Sterling is a top-class player. 

“Personally I like him. I didn’t make a bid because he plays in an area where we have plenty of players.

“We have [Danny] Welbeck, [Theo] Walcott, [Alex-Oxlade] Chamberlain. [Alexis] Sanchez, [Jack] Wilshere can play there, [Serge] Gnabry. He’s a wide player basically, or behind the striker.”

Goalkeeper Petr Cech represents Arsenal’s only piece of transfer business so far this close-season following his switch from Chelsea. 

“I believe he [Cech] has many guarantees. He will give us his talent, his experience, his knowledge of the top-level game,” added Wenger. 

“He can contribute to stabilise our defensive sector. I must say that in the second part of the season we conceded 13 goals from 19 games, so there is not much wrong there. That means that the requested level is very high.

“That [further signings] doesn’t depend only on us, it depends on whether we can find them, but if we can find one or two players we will do it.”