Gary Neville explains why Man City decided to sell Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling

Gary Neville believes there was one player behind Manchester City’s sales of Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling.

Arsenal and Chelsea got themselves a slice of City quality of the summer, with each of them splashing out £50million. The Gunners spent that money to land striker Gabriel Jesus, while Chelsea splashed the cash to land Raheem Sterling. So far, it is Jesus who has managed to hit the ground running, while Sterling has struggled a little at Stamford Bridge.

Though, Jesus is now sidelined for at least a couple of months, while Sterling will be looking to get back to form sooner rather than later after contributing for England at the World Cup. But why did City sell the pair? Both players have played a key role in City’s success over recent years, but they were allowed to leave to join top-of-the-table rivals over the summer.

Even with Jesus and Sterling both wanting to become a bigger part of plans, the move was surprising from City, and particularly because it was not one but two they decided to sell.

But according to Gary Neville, there is a simple reason behind the decision. The Sky Sports presenter has claimed the signing of Argentina World Cup finalist Julian Alvarez caused City to feel comfortable enough to expend two of their attacking threats.

“I was told a year ago when City let Jesus and Sterling go – because I was quite surprised that City let both go at the same time – that this kid [Alvarez] was the reason,” Neville said on the Sky Sports’ World Cup podcast. Someone said that to me, that is quite close to City, that he was the reason and they didn’t want to block his path.”

Alvarez joined City last summer but spent rejoined River Plate on loan for the rest of the season. In the absence of Jesus and Sterling this season, he has been given the chance to shine, and the forward has already managed to score seven times. Meanwhile, Alvarez has already managed to net four times on Argentina’s run to the World Cup final.