Manuel Pellegrini believes it was vital that Raheem Sterling got his Manchester City career off to a flying start with a goal against Roma during their International Champions Cup victory on Tuesday.
City went on to beat the Serie A side 5-4 on penalties following a 2-2 draw in Melbourne as Sterling marked his debut with a quickfire goal after he sprung Roma's offside trap.
And Chilean coach Pellegrini feels the £49 million forward illustrated that he adds another dimension to the City side with the pace that brought him a third-minute goal against the Giallorossi.
"For a striker it's important to score, especially as he scored so early," Pellegrini said at a news conference in Australia.
While Sterling will become the most expensive player in City's history if the £5 million of add-ons in his move from Liverpool are triggered, Pellegrini feels he can get better.
"He just played 45 minutes as he's only worked a few days," he said. "He demonstrates why he's here, not only as player now but I think he will improve a lot in the future, playing with Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero.
"We bought him because he has a big future -- he has the speed that we don't have so we have a different way of playing. He's the player we need in our team."
Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli showed his support for Sterling via Twitter, and says Anfield fans should "support him like you always did."
Pellegrini revealed that January signing Wilfried Bony, who had been expected to link up with City in Australia, has remained in England because of an injury.
The coach does not think it is a major problem for the former Swansea striker, saying: "Bony is in Manchester at the moment -- he has some physical problem from his holidays so I think it's better for him to stay in Manchester and not lose the time coming back.
"The doctor can say more -- I don't think it's too serious."
In Bony's absence, Kelechi Iheanacho led the line and set Sterling up for his goal before scoring City's second.
Pellegrini was delighted with the displays of the 18-year-old forward and fellow youngster Manu Garcia, adding: "I think that the big positive was to see two young players like Manu Garcia and Kelechi -- they both really had very good performances.
"After that, it was a good game for both teams. You are not playing to win the game, you are not making the substitutions of players who are playing bad or well, you are trying to give an average amount of minutes to all the players.
"Overall, I am very happy in the style we played with."
