Raheem Sterling debut: £49m signing lines up for Manchester City against Gervinho and Roma

Former Liverpool player goes straight into side

Raheem Sterling (GETTY IMAGES)

Raheem Sterling will make his non-competitive Manchester City debut this morning when his new side take on Roma.

The former Liverpool player completed a £49m move last week after a protracted and ugly transfer saga. He quickly jetted off to link up with his new team-mates who are on tour in Australia and this will be his first match since arriving.

The match is being played at the 100,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground, however the MCG will only be half full for the game. It's part of City's pre-season schedule, which will end with another game in the International Champions Cup on Friday against Real Madrid.

Speaking before the game, Manuel Pellegrini made clear he wanted to get Sterling involved as soon as possible.

"Raheem worked with Liverpool for three days and so he will play some minutes," said the Manchester City manager.

He added: "I know him. I've seen him play against us for the last two seasons, but I think it's important for him to try and have minutes with our team as soon as he can."

Roma are playing a strong side that includes former Arsenal player Gervinho.

TEAMS...

Roma: De Sanctis, Florenzi, Manolas, Romagnoli, Torosidis,

Ucan, De Rossi, Pjanic, Iturbe, Totti, Gervinho.

Man City: Caballero, Sagna, Kompany, Mangala, Clichy, Fernando,

Zuculini, Garcia, Silva, Sterling, Iheanacho.