Seven Seasons Later: Aguero Still Man City's Main Goal Getter
5th February 2019
The 30-year-old is now staking a claim to be regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest ever imports, particularly if he spearheads a fourth title triumph in eight years in England
- Much has changed at Manchester City in the three seasons since Pep Guardiola took charge tasked with turning the wealth of the club's Abu Dhabi backers into domination of English football
- However, if Guardiola's men are to reel in Liverpool to become the first side in a decade to retain the Premier League, Sergio Aguero is likely to be the primary source of goals just as the Argentine has been for the past seven seasons
- Aguero was a City legend from the moment he won the club's first title in 44 years with virtually the last kick of the campaign in his debut season
LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom- Much has changed at Manchester City in the three seasons since Pep
Guardiola took charge tasked with turning the wealth of the club's Abu Dhabi
backers into domination of English football.
However, if
Guardiola's men are to reel in Liverpool to become the first side in a decade
to retain the Premier League, Sergio Aguero is likely to be the primary source
of goals just as the Argentine has been for the past seven seasons.
Aguero was a City
legend from the moment he won the club's first title in 44 years with virtually
the last kick of the campaign in his debut season.
But the 30-year-old
is now staking a claim to be regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest
ever imports, particularly if he spearheads a fourth title triumph in eight
years in England.
Already firmly
established as City's all-time leading scorer, Aguero’s hat-trick in Sunday’s
3-1 win over Arsenal was his 14th for the club, his 10th in the league - just
one short of Alan Shearer’s all-time record.
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It also took his
Premier League tally to 157, eighth on the all-time list and just 18 goals
behind the only overseas player on that list, Thierry Henry who stands in
fifth.
The bare numbers
underestimate Aguero’s knack of scoring when it really matters.
In 63 appearances
against the big six rivals in the Premier League, the former Atletico Madrid
striker has scored 40 goals, 19 more than any other player in the same period -
Tottenham’s Harry Kane.
Such a record would
appear to make Aguero untouchable. Yet, that was very much not the case in the
early days of Guardiola's reign when the Catalan preferred the youthful energy
of Gabriel Jesus as he demanded much more than just goals from his strikers.
Even at the latter
stage of his career, rather than revolt, Aguero adapted and won over Guardiola
during City's romp to the title with 100 points last season.
"I know my
players when I work with them in the good moments, bad moments, how they
react," said Guardiola after Aguero's latest goal glut against Arsenal.
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“When people in the
first year said I'm not friends with Sergio, sometimes I played Gabriel or Raz
(Raheem Sterling) as a striker, they were my decisions but I was always
delighted (with Aguero).
“Today, it wasn't
just that he scored three goals but for how he tried, fought, and worked
backwards. He gave absolutely everything for the team.
"Of course he
doesn't have the energy of Gabriel or Bernardo (Silva) but every player has his
own quality."
Even this season
Aguero has played nearly 600 fewer minutes in the Premier League than
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah -- who leads the race for the golden boot.
However, as City
continue a huge week in their title challenge at Everton on Wednesday, that
early season rest could be key to the champions retaining the trophy that
matters if Aguero is the fresher of the two for the title run in.