Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has backed Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling to be "the future" of the club.

City have spent well over £100m on the youthful trio, with 19-year-old Jesus the latest to join following the summer arrival of Sane and 2015 acquisition of Sterling.

All three have made promising starts to their careers at the Etihad Stadium and Guardiola expects them to continue in that vein, but warned that they may not have the luxury of three years to start fulfilling their potential.

"These three players will be the future in the next three or four years, I'm pretty sure of that. Rash (Sterling) is playing every three days at a high level, has scored a lot of goals, assists, and is dangerous in the box," he told reporters.

"Gabriel is number nine for Brazil and Leroy, we spent a lot on him because we believe he has the potential. But in the big clubs you have to achieve results immediately and that's why they have to play well now, not in three years.

"[Sane] has made a leap. He arrived a little bit like, 'Wow, where am I?' and sometimes for some players you can't forget that. He attacks and runs in behind like few players I have seen in my life. He's so, so good at attacking the space, he's really good with the ball and dribbling but still he has a lot of things to improve."

City face West Ham United looking to pick up just their second league win in five games.