Raheem Sterling is one of the most in-form players in world football at the moment, and Real Madrid are reportedly set to offer £70 million plus Gareth Bale to try to bring him to La Liga.

According to Sky Sports News, representatives from Real Madrid are planning on watching Sterling play for England next month before finalising their proposal to Man City.

Real president Florentino Perez is under pressure to rejuvenate the club after the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, and has twice tried to sign Sterling before: once after he won the European Golden Boy award in 2014, and again this past summer.

Sterling’s form in 2019 has had him spoken about in the same breath as Messrs Ronaldo and Messi. His half-century of goals and assists puts him ahead of both, making him one of the favourites to win the Ballon D’Or this year.

Sterling himself has been quick to play down any comparison. Speaking exclusively in the autumn issue of FourFourTwo, he said:

‘Bro, if I’m scoring 50 or 60 goals a year for the next 15 years, then you can talk to me about that – right now, don’t talk to me about Ronaldo or Messi!

‘I don’t want to hear that connection.

‘I’m not saying I don’t value myself, but those are two guys who have been doing it for 15 years.

‘That’s not heard of: 40, 50, 60 goals for 15 years.’

As for Gareth Bale, his time at the Bernabeu has looked all but over for some time now. He was strongly linked with a move to China in the summer, before eventually staying in Spain, but with Marca reporting that he’s no longer training with the first team it seems as if there’s no way back for him under Zinedine Zidane.

Whether or not Pep Guardiola will see him as an adequate replacement for their star player is another matter entirely.