Manchester City are running a risk with Raheem Sterling’s potential new deal and he could see him join the likes of Chelsea or Real Madrid, according to the New York Times’ Rory Smith.

Sterling has developed into a real goal-scoring winger since the arrival of Pep Guardiola and has been linked with a mega money move to Chelsea and Real Madrid, with the Blues seeing him as the ideal replacement for Eden Hazard if the Belgian fails to agree a new contract and leaves the club.

But despite being a regular in the starting eleven at the Etihad, Sterling and City cannot agree a new contract and at the moment, talks have stalled as the player seemingly wants to acquire more funds than what the club are prepared to offer.

And Smith has warned City that they are now running the risk of Sterling leaving the club, for a much smaller fee than what they currently value him at.

“I would expect him to stay but I do think City are running a risk because the fact his contract is running down,” he told the Sunday Supplement.

“He won’t cost £150m-£200m with his contract running out. I think there is a risk, Sterling and his team are tough negotiators which Man City will be well aware of from when they bought him. It ends up with them losing potentially one of their best players at a cut price fee, which is something that hasn’t really happened to Man City since they emerged as the Premier League’s elite team.”

Could Sterling be the idea replacement for Hazard or will he end up at Madrid?

Big deals between the Premier League clubs would be difficult to say the least as City do not want to sell one of their most influential players to Chelsea, especially as the Englishman would make the Blues a much better side in the long-run.

So if Madrid come calling along with Chelsea, then City would much prefer to offload Sterling to a foreign side rather than a Premier League rival, even if the Spaniard offered less money than the Blues.

But it will be interesting to see how this plays out as Guardiola doesn’t want to lose a winger that he has transformed into a real star.