Manchester City: Aguero here to stay
After a third painful defeat on the trot, Manchester City finds something to cheer about as star striker Sergio Aguero commits to the club for the rest of his career.
Manchester City fans searching for good news today may be surprised to find out it’s actually fairly easy to come by. Shocking too, is that it’s not simply limited to “it’s almost over”, “Pep Guardiola will save us”, “at least that one kid scored yesterday, what was his name again?” or “at least United are worse.” All, while true, are distinctly unsatisfactory. No, Citizens can’t take solace in any of the above.
Instead, comfort is to be found not on the park but off it. Fan favourite, hero and, for all intents and purposes face of the franchise, Sergio “Kun” Aguero is extending his contract and then some. As reported by the Manchester Evening News:
"Real Madrid are keen on the Argentine ace and Barcelona tried to prise him away from City in the summer of 2014 before moving for Liverpool’s Luis Suarez instead.Now reports suggest he is ready to rule out any chance of returning to La Liga by signing a contract extension until 2020.That would take him until he is 31."
Now, OK, that’s only an extra year on his contract than what was originally penned, but it’s actually only symbolic. More importantly is that Kun has made it clear that he wants to remain at Manchester City for the rest of his career.
"“Aguero, 27, is understood to have told City officials he wants to remain at the club for the rest of his career.”"
Excited isn’t a strong enough word, elated gets close though. See, Aguero is a legend by any metric, the best striker in the league and among the best in the game entirely. There have been many memorable goals, like the 95th minute winner against QPR to clinch the 2011-2012 title for City, but just as many that haven’t been memorable at all. Aguero is a striker’s striker, he just scores goals. Last season he found the net some 26 times, making him the top scorer in the league in some 33 appearances. His 14 goals in only 19 appearances this season show, if nothing else, he’s still as deadly as ever. Any talk of a rebuild via Guardiola must start and begin around Kun.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see where Guardiola has to look when it comes to turning things around. Feed the goat and he will score. Aguero’s statistics for this year are even more enlightening when considering the service being provided to him hasn’t been up to standard. Star signing Kevin De Bruyne showed signs of forming a deadly partnership with Kun, but this was cut all too short via the inevitable, potentially season ending, injury sustained by the former. So too, Yaya Toure and David Silva, usually stalwarts of support, have seen notable declines in performance this year and at least one, if not both, may not get a second chance under Pep.
In my opinion, Aguero is Manchester City’s greatest asset but he also can’t do the job alone. All too often marooned at the front, attack-minded midfielders like Raheem Sterling have failed to demonstrate an ability to provide a significant threat alongside him. What Aguero may need is another target man that can either take pressure off or slip through the cracks of the tight marking on Kun. Perhaps, such a player is to be found in Kelechi Iheanacho, but, at 19, it’s still very early days to lean too heavily on the Nigerian.
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Regardless of what will be, Citizens can breathe a sign of relief that their hero will continue to bang them in while in a sky blue shirt. Whether Aguero will end up spending his entire professional career at the Etihad remains to be seen, but even just that he wants to is a pretty big deal. With players like Toure looking for all the world like they couldn’t care less at times, to have a player passionate about City, who loves the club and the fans, is special. That said player is Sergio Aguero, is a dream come true.