Pep Guardiola explains how he helped Raheem Sterling take his game to the next level this season

That bravery to keep getting on the ball, to keep trying to create actions, as Guardiola puts it, is what has stood out about Sterling this season

Raheem Sterling has enjoyed a superb season (Getty)

Raheem Sterling has grown up fast this season, thanks to Pep Guardiola re-connecting him with his inner child.

We all know how Guardiola has worked ferociously hard on Sterling’s touch and positioning this year, guiding him to the best season of his career: 23 goals and his first Premier League medal. But for Guardiola it is about more than just finessing, refining and maturing a raw talent. It is about reminding Sterling of what made him become a footballer in the first place, the simple pleasure of playing with the ball.

Sterling comes alive with the ball at his feet, no more so than in his brilliant three-assist performance at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Guardiola explained afterwards that by getting him on the ball as much as possible, Sterling’s team-mates had put him back in touch with just how fun it is to run around the ball at your feet.

“What I like most, as a manager, is that the players provide [Sterling] with as many balls as possible,” Guardiola said. “My first target as a manger, is not to forget that they are football players, they are football players to touch the ball. That is the reason why all the players, from the academy, from six, seven, eight, nine years old, because they like to play with the ball. So always we provide them to be in touch with the ball, as much as possible.

“If he needs the ball to create one action, give him, 10, 20, 25, to have more chances to create more. That is the reason why we are working together in that period. Of course we cannot judge Raheem Sterling alone. It’s happened because his team-mates around him, like Kevin De Bruyne or Fernandinho.”

That bravery to keep getting on the ball, to keep trying to create actions, as Guardiola puts it, is what has stood out about Sterling this season. On Sunday afternoon he kept running in behind down that inside-right channel, always getting the ball, taking risks, causing havoc. His run immediately preceded City’s first goal, then he set up City’s second, third and fourth. He would have had even more assists with better finishing from his team-mates. As Guardiola pointed to afterwards, Sterling’s mistakes are jumped on but his willingness to keep trying is what makes him stand out.

Guardiola is delighted with Sterling's progression (Getty)

“Sometimes we judge him about ‘he missed that goal’, ‘he missed again that shot’, but the amount of actions he creates, the assists today, he creates fouls, penalties, because he's so fast and quick, sometimes he is unstoppable in those situations,” Guardiola said.

“And the most magnificent thing is he is 23 years old, so he is still focused, keeping the desire to get better, as a player. His understanding of the game is global: he's a guy who can create inside, make a movement outside, dribbling, runs in behind. Still he misses simple balls still, and he has to be more aggressive in this kind of things.”

Guardiola was delighted that the front line that tore through West Ham was so young: 23-year-old Sterling, 22-year-old Leroy Sane, and 21-year-old Gabriel Jesus. They epitomise how young most of this squad is. Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero have experience of the 2012 and 2014 titles, and Fernandinho of 2014.

But the rest of them: Sterling, Sane, Jesus, Danilo, De Bruyne, Fabian Delph, Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Nicolas Otamendi, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Alexander Zinchenko have never won the Premier League before.

There is a youthful look about Manchester City (Getty)

“For 20 guys in our squad, this will be the first time that they win the Premier League,” Guardiola said. “We are not a team that has eight, nine, 10 players from the past, to show they know exactly what they have to do to win the Premier League. We are a young team, that is so important. 20 players that have never won the Premier League before, just five players who have won it. And to pass on what you have done in the past, you need nine or 10 or more.”

Now, the new generation of City winners can go into next season fuelled by this success and aiming to repeat it, to become the first team in a decade to retain the Premier League.

“The target is next season, to be ready, to be able to keep this consistency, to go wherever we go, with discipline, and to stay there,” Guardiola said. “The recent past of the Premier League, teams were not able to do that. That is the challenge, if we are able to do that next season.”