Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has given the signing of former Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling his stamp of approval, describing it as 'massive' for the club.

City paid Liverpool £49million for Sterling's services, making the 20-year-old the most expensive Englishman ever.

However, Kompany believes the acquisition of Sterling was money well spent.

"It's massive for us - the biggest thing is that you've seen Sterling, especially the way he played the season before last, and he was one of the main reasons, along with [Luis] Suarez, that Liverpool played so well," Kompany told City's official website.

"It became more difficult for them when Suarez left but what you will find is that he will have this kind of structure at City already.

"I mean, we've got Kun [Sergio Aguero] up front, we've got [Wilfried] Bony, we've got so many players who will be able to link up with him [that] we will be able to make him better as well.

"We have great quality in the team but you can't compete nowadays if you don't improve every year. Other teams improve, we need to improve and getting him puts us one step closer to being this team which can win trophies again - it's very important for us.

"He's quick, he's very unpredictable - he's shown that he has especially great determination.

"You play against so many players with great quality but it's the fact that he's always willing to put in the extra yard. That makes it that extra bit difficult when you have a player with quality who is not shy to run and put his body on the line - that's a special player."