Manuel Pellegrini says Raheem Sterling has a "big future" at Manchester City and will only improve by playing alongside the likes of Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and David Silva.
Sterling joined City in a deal that is reported to be worth an eventual £49million from Liverpool last week, and demonstrated his talent by scoring just three minutes into his debut in Tuesday's 2-2 draw against Roma in Melbourne.
Manager Pellegrini has been impressed by what he has seen of his new addition so far and is tipping the England forward to live up to his hefty price tag.
"He's a very young player with a big future. He has the speed that we don't have in the team so it will be a different way of playing," he said.
"He scored very early in the game. He just played 45 minutes, he worked with our team just a few days so I'm happy with the way he played. He demonstrated why he's here.
"Not only his value as a player, he's only a very young player so he will improve a lot in the future playing with Yaya, with David Silva, with Kun Aguero.
"I am very happy for him and I am very happy for our team for buying him."
Pellegrini also explained that striker Wilfried Bony is not with the rest of the team in Australia due to an unspecified injury.
"Bony is in Manchester at the moment," he added. "He came back with a physical problem after his holiday.
"I think for him to recover soon it is better for him to stay in Manchester and not to lose three days coming and going back, so he will stay there in Manchester."
