MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola says his three young forwards have an exciting future at Manchester City but has challenged them to start delivering regularly now.
City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday with a front three of Raheem Sterling, 22, Leroy Sane, 21 and 19-year-old Gabriel Jesus.
They are all in contention to start City's Premier League game with West Ham United on Wednesday and Guardiola is confident they will lead the City attack for years to come.
But with City currently outside the Champions League places, the City boss says they must show their quality every week to help the club challenge for silverware right now.
"These three players will be the future in the next three or four years, I'm pretty sure of that," the City boss told a news conference.
"Raz [Sterling] is playing in a row every three days at a high level, scored a lot of goals, assists, dangerous in box, Gabriel is No. 9 for Brazil and Leroy, we spent a lot on him because we believe he has the potential. So the next three or four years they will be the future of the club.
"But in the big clubs you have to achieve results immediately and that's why they have to play good now, not in three years."
Sane joined the club in a £37m move from Schalke in the summer and struggled to make an impact in the early months of the season.
But the Germany international has scored three goals in his last three games including strikes against title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea and Guardiola believes he is beginning to get used to life in the Premier League.
"He's made a leap. He arrived a little bit like 'Wow, where am I?' And sometimes for some players you can't forget that," the Catalan coach added.
"The last game we played with three guys with an average age of 20. I don't think in the big clubs in Europe you can find three strikers with an average age of 20.
"Sane 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.
"Still he's not clever with the ball. He misses some passes when he's completely alone but he's 20, 21 and we can't forget.
"This is his first time in England. He's played well but sooner or late he'll decline a little bit, this happens, especially with the wingers, but the talent is there and we are there to help him. That's why we bought him and he has a quality that is difficult to find.
"Even without the ball he's getting better. He's so aggressive when he doesn't have it. Hopefully he can be stable and keep going."
