Kompany insists Manchester City will improve Sterling

Vincent Kompany has praised the work-rate of "massive" signing Raheem Sterling and believes Manchester City's stars can make the winger a better player.

After a protracted transfer saga, Sterling joined Manchester City from Liverpool for a fee of around £49m on Tuesday and has since arrived in Australia to link up with his new team-mates.

Kompany believes Sterling was one of the key reasons Liverpool challenged for the Premier League title in 2014 and the Belgian feels the winger can help bring silverware to the Etihad Stadium after a baron season last year.

"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 Suarez, that Liverpool played so well," Kompany told the official Manchester City 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 up front, we've got Bony, we've got so many players who will be able to link up with him. 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."

Kompany has identified the 20-year-old's work ethic as what sets him apart from many of his peers.

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

"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."